To check your hard drive's health in Windows 11, go to Settings > System > Storage > Advanced storage settings > Disks & volumes , select your drive, and click Properties . The "Drive health" section shows estimated remaining life, available spare, and temperature. This works for NVMe SSDs only. For SATA SSDs and hard disk drives (HDDs), run Get-PhysicalDisk in PowerShell or use a free SMART tool like CrystalDiskInfo.
Quick comparison of every method Method
Works on
What it tells you
Difficulty
Settings (Drive health)
NVMe SSDs
Remaining life, spare capacity, temperature
Easy
PowerShell
All internal drives
Health status, wear, errors, power-on hours
Moderate
CrystalDiskInfo
NVMe, SATA SSD, HDD, most USB drives
Full SMART data and a health rating
Easy
CHKDSK / Error checking
All drives
File system errors and bad sectors
Easy
Event Viewer
All drives
Logged hardware and read/write errors
Moderate
Drive maker's tool
That brand's drives
SMART data, diagnostics, firmware updates
Easy
Step 1: Find out what type of drive you have
The right method depends on your drive type.
Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager. Click Performance , then select Disk 0 (and any other disks). Look at the Type field in the lower right. It shows SSD (NVMe) , SSD , or HDD . "SSD (NVMe)" means you can use the Settings method. "SSD" alone usually means a SATA SSD. "HDD" is a mechanical hard drive.
Method 1: Check drive health in Settings (NVMe SSDs)
Press Win + I to open Settings. Go to System > Storage . Under "Storage management," click Advanced storage settings , then Disks & volumes . Click Properties next to the disk (not a volume below it). Scroll to Drive health . You will see three values:
Estimated remaining life: 100% is new. Plan a replacement once this drops below about 10%.Available spare: Reserve cells the SSD uses to replace worn ones. A low number means the drive is running out of backup capacity.Temperature: Under 70°C is normal for most NVMe SSDs under load.If Windows detects a critical problem, a warning appears here and Windows also sends a notification that your storage device may be at risk. Back up immediately if you see one.
If the Drive health section is missing, your drive is SATA or HDD. Use Method 2 or 3.
Method 2: Check drive health with PowerShell (all drives)
PowerShell works on every internal drive type and needs no downloads.
Check overall status
Right-click Start and select Terminal (Admin) . Run: Get-PhysicalDisk | Select-Object FriendlyName, MediaType, HealthStatus, OperationalStatus
Healthy / OK: No problems detected.Warning: The drive reports degradation. Back up and monitor closely.Unhealthy: Failure is likely. Back up now and replace the drive.Check wear and errors
Run this in the same admin window:
Get-PhysicalDisk | Get-StorageReliabilityCounter | Select-Object DeviceId, Temperature, Wear, ReadErrorsUncorrected, WriteErrorsUncorrected, PowerOnHours
Wear: Percentage of the SSD's rated life used. 0 is new, 100 is fully worn.ReadErrorsUncorrected / WriteErrorsUncorrected: Should be 0. Any rising number is a red flag.PowerOnHours: Total hours the drive has run. Useful for judging age.Some fields may show blank depending on your drive and storage driver. If so, use CrystalDiskInfo.
Why the WMIC command no longer works
Many older guides tell you to run wmic diskdrive get status. Microsoft has removed WMIC from supported versions of Windows 11, and it is no longer available as an optional feature. Use this PowerShell equivalent instead:
Get-CimInstance Win32_DiskDrive | Select-Object Model, Status
A status of OK means SMART reports no problem. Pred Fail means the drive predicts its own failure. Source: Microsoft support, KB5067470 .
Method 3: Read full SMART data with CrystalDiskInfo
CrystalDiskInfo is a free , widely used tool that reads SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) data from nearly any drive, including SATA SSDs, HDDs, and many external USB drives.
Download CrystalDiskInfo from its official site (crystalmark.info). Open it. Each drive appears as a tab at the top. Read the Health Status box: Good (blue), Caution (yellow), or Bad (red). If the status is Caution or Bad, check these attributes:
Attribute
Drive type
What a problem looks like
Reallocated Sectors Count (05)
HDD, SATA SSD
Any value above 0, especially if rising
Current Pending Sector Count (C5)
HDD
Any value above 0
Uncorrectable Sector Count (C6)
HDD
Any value above 0
Percentage Used
NVMe SSD
Approaching 100%
Available Spare
NVMe SSD
Near or below the threshold listed
A single reallocated sector on an old HDD is not an emergency. A number that increases week to week is.
Method 4: Scan for file system errors with CHKDSK
CHKDSK checks the file system and can find bad sectors. It does not measure hardware wear, so use it alongside SMART checks, not instead of them.
Graphical method: Open File Explorer, right-click the drive, select Properties > Tools , and click Check under "Error checking."
Command method: Open Terminal (Admin) and run:
chkdsk C: /scan
This scans without taking the drive offline. If it finds errors, run:
chkdsk C: /f
For the C: drive, Windows schedules this at the next restart.
Caution: Do not run chkdsk /r on an HDD that is showing SMART warnings until you have backed up. It reads every sector and can push a failing drive over the edge.
Method 5: Check Event Viewer for disk errors
Windows logs disk errors even when you see no symptoms.
Right-click Start and select Event Viewer . Go to Windows Logs > System . Click Filter Current Log on the right. In "Event sources," select disk , Ntfs , stornvme , and storahci . Watch for these event IDs:
7: The device has a bad block.11: Controller error.51: An error was detected during a paging operation.153: An I/O operation was retried.One old event is rarely a concern. Repeated or recent events point to a failing drive or loose cable.
Method 6: Use your drive maker's utility Drive manufacturers offer free tools that read SMART data, run diagnostics, and install firmware updates. Examples include WD Dashboard, Seagate SeaTools, Crucial Storage Executive, and Kingston SSD Manager. Check your drive's model name in Task Manager or Device Manager to find the right tool.
What your results mean and what to do Result
Meaning
Action
Healthy / Good / OK
No problems
Recheck every few months
Warning / Caution
Early wear or errors
Back up now, recheck weekly
Unhealthy / Bad / Pred Fail
Failure likely soon
Back up immediately, replace the drive
Remaining life below 10%
SSD near end of rated life
Plan a replacement
Healthy status but crashes, freezes, or clicking
SMART may miss some failures
Back up and run the drive maker's diagnostic
Warning signs your drive is failing Clicking, grinding, or beeping from an HDD Files that disappear, corrupt, or will not open Very slow boot times or frequent freezes when opening files Blue screens mentioning storage, such as INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE The drive disappearing from File Explorer or BIOS What to do if your drive is failing Back up first. Copy your most important files to an external drive or cloud storage before running any repair tool.Avoid heavy operations. Skip defragmenting and chkdsk /r on a failing HDD.Clone or reinstall. Clone the drive to a new one, or install the new drive and restore from backup.Check the warranty. Most SSDs carry 3 to 5 year warranties, and the drive maker's tool can often confirm coverage.Replacing a laptop with a failing drive On many modern thin laptops, the SSD is small, tightly packed, or tied to other components, so a failing drive can be the point where upgrading the whole laptop makes more sense than repairing it. If you go that route, choose a laptop with an NVMe SSD so Windows 11 can monitor its health for you in Settings, with no extra software.
The Swift 16 AI Laptop - SF16-71T-70PN ships with a 1 TB PCIe NVMe 5.0 SSD, so its estimated remaining life, available spare, and temperature appear right in the Drive health section covered in Method 1. It pairs that storage with an Intel® Core™ Ultra X7 358H processor, Intel® Arc™ B390 graphics, 16 GB of LPDDR5X memory, and a 16" 2880 x 1800 120 Hz touchscreen, in a 0.58" body that weighs about 3.42 lb. If you want a 16 inch touch screen laptop that is easy to monitor and fast to restore your backup onto, it is a strong pick. For more options, browse Acer's premium thin and light laptops .
How often should you check your drive's health? Check every three to six months under normal use. Check monthly if your drive is over four years old, has shown a warning before, or stores work you cannot afford to lose. For SSDs, remaining life and wear change slowly, so a sudden drop is more meaningful than a low number alone.
Frequently asked questions How do I check my SSD health in Windows 11? For an NVMe SSD, open Settings > System > Storage > Advanced storage settings > Disks & volumes, click Properties, and read the Drive health section. For a SATA SSD, run Get-PhysicalDisk in PowerShell as administrator or use CrystalDiskInfo.
Does Windows 11 have a built-in hard drive health check? Yes. Windows 11 shows drive health in Settings for NVMe SSDs, and PowerShell's Get-PhysicalDisk and Get-StorageReliabilityCounter commands report health status, wear, and errors for all internal drives. CHKDSK checks the file system on any drive.
Why doesn't Drive health show up in Settings? The Drive health section only appears for NVMe SSDs. SATA SSDs and HDDs do not show it. Use PowerShell or CrystalDiskInfo to check those drives.
Does wmic diskdrive get status still work in Windows 11? No. Microsoft removed WMIC from supported versions of Windows 11. Use Get-CimInstance Win32_DiskDrive | Select-Object Model, Status in PowerShell for the same result.
What does "Pred Fail" mean? Pred Fail means the drive's SMART system predicts it will fail soon. Back up your data immediately and replace the drive.
Can CHKDSK fix a failing hard drive? No. CHKDSK repairs file system errors and marks bad sectors so Windows avoids them, but it cannot repair physical damage. A drive with rising SMART errors needs to be replaced.
How long does an SSD last? Most consumer SSDs last 5 to 10 years under typical use. Lifespan depends on how much data is written, which Windows reports as Wear or Estimated remaining life.
Is CrystalDiskInfo safe? Yes, when downloaded from the official site. It only reads SMART data and does not modify your drive.
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