If you need to know how to check hard drive health, start with health data before running repair scans. Windows and macOS both include useful checks, while S.M.A.R.T. tools provide deeper information. The safest order is to check health, protect your files, and then repair problems when necessary. Also worth reading: How to Split Screen on Windows, Mac, Chromebook, Android, and iPad.
Quick answer: To check hard drive health, start with PowerShell on Windows or Disk Utility on macOS. Then review S.M.A.R.T. data with CrystalDiskInfo or a manufacturer utility; back up immediately if you see Warning, Unhealthy, Caution, Bad, rising sector errors, or new clicking and grinding noises.
| Check | Best for | What it tells you | Best next action |
| Get-PhysicalDisk | Windows 10 and 11 | Basic physical-disk health | Investigate Warning or Unhealthy |
| Storage reliability counters | Windows | Temperature, wear, errors, usage data | Compare unusual values and trends |
| Windows drive health | NVMe SSDs | Remaining life, spare capacity, temperature | Back up after critical warnings |
| CrystalDiskInfo | HDDs and SSDs | Detailed S.M.A.R.T. attributes | Review Caution or Bad results |
| CHKDSK | Windows volumes | File-system and sector problems | Repair only when appropriate |
| Disk Utility | macOS | Disk errors and hardware warnings | Back up before serious repairs |
Key Takeaways
- Start with a health-status check before running long repair scans.
- Modern Windows users should use PowerShell instead of old WMIC commands.
- Windows’ built-in detailed health monitoring covers NVMe SSDs, not SATA SSDs or HDDs.
- CHKDSK checks a volume and its file system. It is not a full S.M.A.R.T. health test.
- A Caution, Bad, Warning, or Unhealthy result deserves an immediate backup.
- New clicking or grinding from an HDD is a reason to stop unnecessary testing.
What You’ll Need Before Testing
You need administrator access for several Windows commands and enough time to review the results carefully. Keep another drive or cloud location ready if the storage device already shows warning signs. Avoid intensive testing first when an HDD suddenly clicks, grinds, disappears, or struggles to stay connected.
How to check hard drive health. Your first goal is to protect irreplaceable files rather than prove exactly why a disk is failing. A health test can guide your decision, but no diagnostic can guarantee future operation. Backups remain necessary even when everything looks normal.
How to Check Hard Drive Health on Windows 11 and 10
Many older tutorials still recommend wmic diskdrive get status as their main Windows test. That command is no longer a good default for a 2026 guide. Microsoft removed WMIC from Windows 11 version 24H2 and later in August 2026.
Use these checks from least disruptive to most detailed.
- If the drive already freezes, disconnects, or makes unusual sounds, back up important files first.
- Open Windows PowerShell or Terminal as administrator from the Start menu.
- Run Get-PhysicalDisk and review the HealthStatus and OperationalStatus columns.
- Run Get-PhysicalDisk | Get-StorageReliabilityCounter | Format-List * for supported reliability information.
- Check Settings > System > Storage > Advanced storage settings > Disks & volumes for supported NVMe SSD health.
- Use CrystalDiskInfo when you need clearer, attribute-level S.M.A.R.T. information.
- Run CHKDSK only when you need a volume or file-system check, not as your only health test.
Get-PhysicalDisk can report statuses including Healthy, Warning, Unhealthy, and Unknown. Microsoft also provides storage reliability counters for values such as temperature, wear, errors, and operating time. Availability varies because the storage device and its driver must expose those counters.
Windows Settings can show estimated remaining life, available spare capacity, and temperature for supported NVMe storage. Microsoft states that this monitoring covers NVMe SSDs, not SATA SSDs or traditional HDDs. A missing health panel therefore does not prove that another drive type is healthy or faulty.
S.M.A.R.T. and CHKDSK Answer Different Questions
S.M.A.R.T. data focuses on information reported by the storage hardware and its controller. CHKDSK focuses mainly on the Windows volume, file-system metadata, and readable sectors. Using both can be useful, but you should not treat one as a substitute for the other.
| Tool | Main question answered | Can repair? | Hardware-health detail |
| S.M.A.R.T. monitor | Is the device reporting warning indicators? | No | High |
| Get-PhysicalDisk | How does Windows classify the physical disk? | No | Basic |
| CHKDSK | Does this Windows volume contain logical or sector errors? | Yes, with options | Limited |
| Speed benchmark | Is performance lower than expected? | No | Not a health verdict |
Microsoft says CHKDSK without repair options reports the volume’s condition. The /f option repairs file-system errors, while /r also searches for unreadable sectors. A full /r scan can take considerable time, especially on large mechanical disks.
This distinction prevents a common troubleshooting mistake. A clean CHKDSK result does not mean every S.M.A.R.T. attribute is healthy. Likewise, a S.M.A.R.T. warning doesn’t disappear just because Windows repaired a file-system error.
How to Read S.M.A.R.T. Results Without Overreacting
CrystalDiskInfo translates complex S.M.A.R.T. information into Good, Caution, Bad, or Unknown health states. For HDDs, its Caution logic can consider reallocated, pending, and uncorrectable sector counts. SSD health can instead depend on remaining-life information reported by the controller.
| Result | Practical meaning | What to do |
| Good | No monitored threshold has triggered a warning | Keep backups and monitor changes |
| Caution | One or more important values deserve attention | Back up now and investigate |
| Bad | The device reports a serious health problem | Replace the drive after protecting data |
| Unknown | The tool cannot make a reliable classification | Try another supported diagnostic |
Pay attention to changes, not just the current label. A value that worsens between checks may matter more than a static reading that never changes. No S.M.A.R.T. status should be treated as permission to keep only one copy of important data.
Mechanical HDDs and SSDs also fail differently. An HDD can develop noisy mechanical symptoms because it uses moving platters and heads. An SSD has no moving parts, so software-reported wear and controller warnings matter more
Check Drive Health on a Mac
Open Disk Utility on macOS and choose View > Show All Devices before selecting the physical storage device. Use the Info button to review hardware information, then use First Aid to check file-system structures. Apple recommends backing up when Disk Utility reports a fatal hardware problem.
For First Aid, Apple recommends checking volumes first, then containers, and finally the physical device. That order matters because each layer represents a different part of the storage structure. First Aid can repair some software-level problems, but it cannot repair failing physical hardware.
A Mac that reports an irreparable hardware problem needs a different response from one with a repairable volume error. Copy important files while the device is still readable, and avoid unnecessary writes. Replace or service the storage device when Apple reports a hardware failure.
Check External Drives and Drives That Disappear
Start with an external drive check of the cable, port, power source, and enclosure. A connection problem can make healthy storage appear unreliable or cause it to disappear intermittently. After confirming the connection, use S.M.A.R.T. information when the enclosure and software expose it.
An internal disk that does not appear in Windows deserves a firmware-level check. Techixia’s guide to entering BIOS or UEFI explains how to reach firmware settings safely. If the firmware also cannot see the drive, the problem is more likely to involve hardware, power, cabling, or the device itself.
Do not initialize or format an unfamiliar missing drive merely to make Windows recognize it. Those actions can complicate recovery when valuable files are still present. Confirm the correct physical disk before making changes in Disk Management.
Warning Signs That Mean Back Up Before Testing More
One slow startup is not enough to diagnose failing storage. Several symptoms appearing together deserve more attention, especially when S.M.A.R.T. data also changes. Mechanical noise matters because SSDs cannot produce clicking or grinding from moving parts.
Watch for these warning signs.
- Repeated clicking, grinding, or unusual mechanical sounds from an HDD
- Files that become corrupted or unreadable
- A drive that repeatedly disconnects or disappears
- Frequent read or write errors
- Sudden freezes while opening files
- Caution, Bad, Warning, or Unhealthy diagnostic results
- Increasing reallocated, pending, or uncorrectable sector counts
- Windows storage warnings about degraded reliability or low spare capacity
Windows advises users to back up after a critical storage warning appears. Those warnings can include degraded reliability, low spare capacity, or a device entering read-only mode. You can find details under the affected disk’s properties in Storage settings.
Storage is not always responsible when a computer refuses to start. If your PC shows no useful power, display, or startup response, use Techixia’s computer won’t turn on troubleshooting steps instead. That guide separates power, display, POST, Windows startup, and storage-related symptoms.
HDD and SSD Health Checks Are Not Identical
A traditional HDD stores data on rotating magnetic platters and has mechanical components that can wear. An SSD stores data in flash memory and reports different wear information through its controller. Techixia’s SATA hard drive explainer covers the differences between SATA, HDD, SATA SSD, and NVMe storage.
That difference changes which warning signs deserve attention. New physical noises matter for an HDD, while remaining-life and spare-capacity values matter more for many SSDs. Both technologies can still fail unexpectedly, so neither removes the need for backups.
Do not compare raw S.M.A.R.T. numbers unthinkingly between unrelated models. Vendors can define attributes differently, especially on SSDs. Use the manufacturer’s documentation or a trusted tool that understands the specific device.
How Often Should You Check Your Drive?
No universal schedule guarantees you’ll catch a failure. Check immediately after new errors, unexplained freezing, storage warnings, or unusual HDD noises. Periodic monitoring also makes sense for computers that hold important work or personal files.
Automated monitoring is more useful than relying on memory alone. A monthly manual check is reasonable for an important everyday computer, but backups should run more often. Your backup schedule should reflect how much recent data you can afford to lose.
Run long surface scans only when they answer a specific question. Routine health monitoring does not require repeatedly scanning every sector. This keeps the process faster and avoids stressing a device that may already be unreliable.
What to Do Next
Once you know how to check hard drive health, record the result and protect important files before changing anything. Healthy results call for normal backups, while warnings call for faster action and closer investigation. Bad hardware warnings, repeated errors, or mechanical noises are strong reasons to plan a replacement.
Keep the old drive untouched if you may need to recover files. Files repeatedly format, benchmark, or repair a device that is mechanically failing. Your data is more valuable than completing one more diagnostic test.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to check hard drive health without installing software?
On Windows, open PowerShell as administrator and run Get-PhysicalDisk for a quick status. Supported NVMe SSDs also show additional details in Windows Storage settings. On macOS, Disk Utility provides built-in hardware information and First Aid tools.
Does CHKDSK tell me whether my drive is healthy?
Not completely. CHKDSK checks a Windows volume for file-system and sector problems, and its options control repair behavior. Use S.M.A.R.T. information or physical-disk health data for hardware-focused indicators.
What does Caution mean in CrystalDiskInfo?
Caution means the program detected a value that meets its warning criteria. On HDDs, that can involve reallocated, pending, or uncorrectable sectors. Back up important data and investigate the affected attributes rather than ignoring the warning.
Can a drive fail even when its status says Good or Healthy?
Yes, because the current status reflects only what’s available during that check. It cannot guarantee that electronics, mechanics, firmware, or flash memory will keep working indefinitely. Keep independent backups even when every diagnostic result looks normal.
Should I replace a drive that reports bad sectors?
Start by protecting important files before performing more intensive tests. New or increasing unreadable sectors can indicate a developing storage problem, especially with other symptoms. Replacement is usually safer than trusting critical data to a device that keeps producing new errors.
