---
name: "nvd"
section: "4"
platform: "freebsd"
package: "base"
version: "16.0-CURRENT-20261027-61c70dc16a79"
release: "FreeBSD 16.0-CURRENT (2026-10-27)"
platforms: ["freebsd"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/nvd"
---

# nvd(4)

NVM Express disk driver

## NAME

**nvd** – NVM Express disk driver

## SYNOPSIS

**device** **nvme** **device** **nvd**

## DESCRIPTION

The **nvd** driver exposes NVM Express (NVMe) namespaces as disks to the kernel disk storage API. It depends on the [nvme(4)](/nvme/4.md) driver for notification of existing NVMe namespaces and submission of NVM I/O commands.

Device nodes from the **nvd** driver will have the format /dev/nvdX and are [GEOM(4)](/GEOM/4.md) disks which can be partitioned by [geom(8)](/geom/8.md). Note that device nodes from the [nvme(4)](/nvme/4.md) driver are not [GEOM(4)](/GEOM/4.md) disks and cannot be partitioned.

## HARDWARE

The **nvd** driver supports NVMe storage devices using NVMe namespaces.

## LOADER TUNABLES

The following settings can be configured at the [loader(8)](/loader/8.md) prompt, or set in [loader.conf(5)](/loader.conf/5.md):

- *hw.nvd.delete\_max*

  System-wide maximum delete size for NVMe devices in bytes. The default is 1GB.

## SEE ALSO

[GEOM(4)](/GEOM/4.md), [nda(4)](/nda/4.md), [nvme(4)](/nvme/4.md), [geom(8)](/geom/8.md), [nvmecontrol(8)](/nvmecontrol/8.md), [disk(9)](/disk/9.md)

## HISTORY

The **nvd** driver first appeared in FreeBSD 9.2.

## AUTHORS

The **nvd** driver was developed by Intel and originally written by Jim Harris ⟨*jimharris@FreeBSD.org*⟩, with contributions from Joe Golio at EMC.

This man page was written by Jim Harris ⟨*jimharris@FreeBSD.org*⟩.