How To Check SSD Health on Windows 11 & 10

Learn 3 easy ways to quickly and easily check your SSD health in Windows 11 and Windows 10. Works for both SATA and NVMe SSDs.

One of the best things about an SSD, whether it’s SATA or NVMe, is that they are much faster than a regular hard drive. They are much more resilient and long-lasting, too. That being said, as good as they are, if you are using one or more SSDs in your computer, it is essential to monitor their health. This is especially true if you use it a lot daily, or it has been a long time since you purchased the system or the SSD itself. If you don’t keep track of the SSD health, it might fail suddenly and cause irreversible data loss.

For example, I purchased one of the SSDs in my system almost a decade ago, and I use it almost daily. So, it is important to check its health. Otherwise, it might fail suddenly, and I will lose all the data in it.

In this quick and straightforward tutorial, I will show you three methods to check the SSD health in Windows 11 and Windows 10. Let’s get started.

Good to know: How to check if your SSD is SATA or NVMe (on Windows 10)

Check SSD Health Using PowerShell/Terminal

1. Right-click the “Windows” icon on the taskbar.
2. Select the “Terminal” or “Windows PowerShell” option.
3. Run the WMIC diskdrive get status,model command.
4. It displays the health status of all the hard drives, including the SSDs, in your computer under the “Status” column. In my case, the health status of all my SSDs is “OK”. That means they are healthy.

Status Explanation

• OK: Your SSD is healthy, and this is the desirable status.
• Pred Fail: It stands for “Predictive Failure”. If you see this status on any of your drives, it means that the drive’s SMART functionality reported some kind of error, and Windows predicts that your drive is likely to fail soon. It’s good to back up the data on the drive and replace it as soon as possible.
• Error: It means the SMART detected an irrecoverable error in the drive. Your drive is going to fail soon; it’s just a matter of time. Again, backup all the data on it, don’t use it to save new files, and replace the drive as soon as possible.
• Degraded: It means that the drive is functional but is not running at its optimum level. This generally happens to older or heavily used drives.
• Unknown: Windows cannot determine the drive health status. It might be because your drive doesn’t support SMART functionality or has driver issues.

Check SSD Health in the Windows Settings App

Note: This specific method only works in Windows 11. If you are using Windows 10, follow the first or third methods.

1. Press “Windows key + I” to open Settings.
2. Go to the “System” tab on the sidebar.
3. Click the “Storage” option on the right page.
4. Expand the “Advanced storage settings” option under the “Storage management” section.
5. Click the “Disks & volumes” option.
6. Find your SSD and click the “Properties” button next to a partition.
7. You will see the SSD health status next to the “Status” under the “Volume Data” section.
8. In my case, the SSD’s health status is “Healthy“.

Note: You should click the “Properties” button next to a partition (ex, D:). If you click the “Properties” button next to the SSD name, it will not show the health status.

Status Explanation

• Healthy: Your SSD is perfectly healthy and nothing to worry about.
• Warning / Needs attention: Your drive is degraded and/or the SMART system found non-critical issues. While the drive is not in immediate danger, it is better to be safe by backing up all the data. If this is your primary drive, replace it with a new SSD as soon as possible.
• Failing / Critical / Unsafe: If Windows shows this status, it is a severe warning, and there is a high chance that your drive might fail soon. You should back up all the data in the drive, stop using it, and replace it with a new one as soon as possible.

Check SSD Health Using the HWiNFO 64

If you want more detailed information about your SSD health, we must use a third-party tool called HWiNFO 64. Here’s how.

Note: Download HWiNFO 64 from here, install it, and proceed with the steps below.

1. Open the “Start menu” by pressing the “Windows key” on your keyboard.
2. Search for “HWiNFO 64” in the Start menu and click “Open“.
3. Ensure “Full mode” is selected in the dropdown menu and click “Start“.
4. Close the “System Summary” window.
5. Expand the “Drives” option on the left sidebar.
6. Select the SSD you want to check.
7. On the right sidebar, scroll down to the “S.M.A.R.T” section.
8. Under it, you will see a detailed report about your SSD’s health.

Wrapping Up — Checking SSD Health in Windows

In conclusion, you have three methods to check the SSD health in Windows. If you just want a quick SSD health status, follow the Terminal/PowerShell or the Settings method. If you want a detailed health report of your SSD, follow the third method. i.e., using the HWiNFO 64 app. In most cases, the first two methods are good enough. However, your SSD health status is anything but “OK” or “Healthy”, it is better to use HWiNFO (the third method) to get a better estimation of its health.

If you have any questions or need help, comment below. I’ll be happy to assist.