You can learn a surprising amount about your SSD or hard drive's health with tools already built into Windows. It helps to think of two separate questions: is the hardware healthy, and is the file system free of errors? Here's how to check both.
If any check comes back bad, back up first, fix second. Copy important files to an external drive or cloud storage before doing anything else.
1. Windows 11: drive health in Settings
For NVMe SSDs, Windows 11 shows health data directly.
- Go to Settings > System > Storage.
- Select Advanced storage settings > Disks & volumes.
- Select Properties next to the disk (not one of its volumes).
- Under Drive health, check Estimated remaining life, Available spare and Temperature.
This only works for NVMe SSDs. SATA SSDs and hard drives won't show the section, so use step 2 instead. Windows may also show a notification if it detects that a storage device is at risk of failure.
2. Check every drive with PowerShell
Open PowerShell from the Start menu and run:
Get-PhysicalDisk | Select-Object FriendlyName, MediaType, HealthStatus, OperationalStatus- HealthStatus: Healthy is good. Warning or Unhealthy means back up now.
- MediaType tells you whether the drive is an SSD or HDD.
For more detail, run PowerShell as administrator and try:
Get-PhysicalDisk | Get-StorageReliabilityCounter | Select-Object DeviceId, Wear, Temperature, PowerOnHoursWear is the percentage of the SSD's rated life used so far. Blank values mean the drive doesn't report that data.
3. Read S.M.A.R.T. data with a free tool
Drives keep their own health log called S.M.A.R.T. To see it in detail, many people use the free CrystalDiskInfo, which summarizes the result as Good, Caution or Bad. Download it from the official site only. Your SSD maker's utility (Samsung, WD, Crucial and others) also shows wear and offers firmware updates.
4. Check the file system with CHKDSK
If files won't open or folders look corrupted, the file system may have errors.
- In File Explorer, right-click the drive and choose Properties > Tools > Check.
- Or run
chkdsk C: /scanin an admin Command Prompt to scan without changing anything. - If errors are found, run
chkdsk C: /f. For C:, Windows asks to check at the next restart; type Y.
The /r option also hunts for bad sectors, but on hard drives it can take hours and stresses a drive that's already struggling. Back up before using it.
How to read SSD life numbers
Estimated remaining life is a projection based on the manufacturer's write endurance rating. A drive at 0% doesn't instantly die, and a drive showing plenty of life can still fail suddenly. Symptoms are often a better warning than numbers:
- Files become corrupted or won't open for no clear reason.
- The PC freezes often or slows to a crawl (see Slow PC checklist).
- A hard drive clicks, grinds or makes new noises.
Windows 10
The Settings health page is Windows 11 only, but the PowerShell commands, CHKDSK and third-party tools work the same on Windows 10.
FAQ
Should I defragment?
For hard drives it can help. For SSDs, Windows handles optimization (TRIM) automatically, so there's nothing to do.
Is it bad to run disk checks often?
Status checks (steps 1 and 2) are harmless anytime. Save long scans like chkdsk /r for when you suspect a problem.
My files are already gone.
Stop writing to that drive and read our file recovery guide first.