NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory express) is a type of physical storage medium used in computers to store, for example, an operating system, applications, and/or data. NVMe drives fall under the category of 'SSD drives' and represent the new standard of the M.2 form factor. See also our article 'What is an SSD?'.
The 'e' in Express in NVMe is also a direct hint about the underlying technology: NVMe no longer uses SATA but PCIe (i.e., PCI express). Furthermore, M.2 NVMe SSDs look the same as standard M.2 SSDs and use the same connectors.
By using PCIe instead of SATA, NVMe SSDs are significantly faster (up to 15 times faster than a SATA SSD). For example, we use NVMe SSDs for the VPS platform.
Language can be a bit misleading because we often refer to an 'NVMe drive' or 'hard drive' (derived from Hard Disk, which also leads to Disk Drive or drive station). However, NVMe 'drives', like other types of SSDs, do not use a disk as in a traditional HDD but instead use flash memory to store data.