NVMe HDDs are coming soon to a data center near you, but don’t expect one to land in your PC before the next decade (if ever)

Seagate NVMe HDDs might combine storage protocols, but don’t anticipate breaking any speed records.
Large enterprises could potentially benefit from NVMe SSDs, but they may not provide significant advantages for gamers and content creators in the near future.
NVMe offers storage consistency, yet SAS remains dominant when it comes to sheer performance.

At Computex 2025, Seagate Technology showcased a prototype hard drive that employs NVMe, a technology commonly seen in solid-state drives.

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According to
PCwatch
The demo included a mix of NVMe SSDs and HDDs utilizing NVMe-oF (NVMe over Fabrics) for communication via Ethernet.

Although the hybrid interface demonstrated promise for data centers, it is still uncertain if this transition will prove viable for personal computers.

The incorporation of NVMe represents a change in storage interfaces rather than focusing on performance improvements.

Colin Pressley, who leads customer success at Seagate, stated, “We have already inherently incorporated PCIe into our HDD controllers,” indicating a significant change in architecture.

The experimental drive accommodates both NVMe and SAS connections, providing adaptability throughout potentially an extended migration period.

Pressley was swift to set realistic expectations: “The advantages in terms of performance are minimal. The newest SAS offers adequate performance, and simply transitioning to NVMe does not guarantee significant enhancements.”

For customers looking for the
best HDD,
or even the
fastest external HDD
NVMe support provides minimal near-term advantages.

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The true potential resides not in velocity, but in integration. Since SSDs are already utilizing NVMe, incorporating HDDs into this protocol would streamline driver needs and simplify software design.

Significantly, the NVMe-compatible HDD does not rely on a proprietary standard. Rather, it adheres to an official interpretation of the NVMe specifications, which have been updated to incorporate commands designed for mechanical drives, including spin-up procedures.

Following open standards enhances the probability of wider acceptance across various industries, particularly in corporate settings where uniformity is essential.

Nonetheless, NVMe HDDs are not expected to be readily accessible to average consumers in the near future. As stated by Pressley and Seagate, it could take between five to ten years for hard drives to completely shift from using SATA/SAS interfaces to adopting NVMe technology.

This timeline resembles earlier transitions, such as the move from IDE to SATA, where newer standards progressively supplanted older interface technologies.

Although this development appears unavoidable for data centers, consumer desktops and laptops present a separate narrative.

Many contemporary consumer systems continue to use SATA for substantial data storage needs, frequently combining it with other technologies.
largest HDD
Available with a quicker SSD for speeding up startup and app performance.

As long as motherboard chipsets continue to include SATA support, which isn’t anticipated to change for at least ten more years, NVMe SSDs are improbable to gain widespread adoption in consumer desktop computers.