Devices Check if HDD, SSD, or NVMe Disk Drive in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to quickly check if a disk drive is a HDD, SSD, or NVMe type in Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Hard disk drive (HDD) = This is the older mechanical magnetic spinner disk. While HDDs are slower than SSD or NVMe, a HDD does offer much larger storage capacity at a cheaper price. This will usually be a 3.5 inch hard disk connected to the SATA interface. You can hear these drives spinning up and down.

Solid-state drive (SSD) = This will be a 2.5 inch hard disk usually connected to the SATA interface that uses memory chips without any moving parts, and is absolutely silent. SSDs are faster than a HDD, but not faster than a NVMe.

Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) SSD = This is the latest and much faster version of SSDs usually connected to the M.2 slot interface instead of SATA.

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1 You can physically look at the disk drive and compare below to see if it's a HDD, SSD, or NVMe type.

This option doesn't allow you to know if a SSD is NVMe or not.

Starting with Windows 11 build 22635.4225 (Beta) build 27744.1000 (Canary), build 22631.4534 (RP), and build 26100.2448 (RP), disks will also be labeled by type (NVMe, SATA etc.).

1 Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc).

2 Click/tap on Performance on the left side. (see screenshot below)

3 You can now see if your connected disks are a SSD or HDD drive.

This option is only available in Windows 11.

1 Open Settings (Win+I).

2 Click/tap on System on the left side, and click/tap on Storage on the right side. (see screenshot below)



3 Click/tap on Advanced storage settings to expand it open, and click/tap on Disks & volumes. (see screenshot below)



4 Click/tap on the Properties button for the "disk" you want to check. (see screenshot below)


5 Look at the Media and Bus type details at the top to determine if this is a HDD (SATA), SSD (SATA), or SSD (NVMe) disk drive. (see screenshots below)


6 You can now close Settings if you like.





1 Open Windows Terminal, and select either Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt.

2 Copy and paste the command below you want to use into Windows Terminal, and press Enter. (see screenshots below)




3 Look at the MediaType and BusType column details to determine if each disk drive is HDD (SATA), SSD (SATA), or SSD (NVMe).






That's it,
Shawn Brink