CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1201)HardwareMedium
A technician needs to install a new storage device that communicates directly over the PCIe bus rather than through a SATA controller, providing the fastest possible read/write speeds. Which type of drive should the technician install?
- A2.5-inch SATA SSD
- B5400 RPM HDD
- CNVMe M.2 SSD
- DmSATA SSD
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. NVMe M.2 SSD
NVMe drives connect via the M.2 slot and communicate directly over PCIe lanes, bypassing the SATA controller bottleneck and enabling much higher throughput than SATA-based storage.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. 2.5-inch SATA SSDs are limited by the SATA III interface, not PCIe.
- B. A mechanical HDD is far slower and uses SATA, not PCIe.
- D. mSATA SSDs still use the SATA protocol, just in a smaller form factor.
NVMe over PCIe
NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) is a protocol that lets SSDs communicate directly over the PCIe bus, bypassing the slower SATA/AHCI interface.
- Uses M.2 slot with PCIe lanes
- Much higher bandwidth than SATA III (6Gbps)
- AHCI is the older protocol used by SATA SSDs
Memory trick: NVMe skips the SATA traffic jam and drives straight on the PCIe highway