How to Check SSD Health on Windows 10 and 11

SSDs rarely give the loud warning signs that a dying hard drive does, so it is worth checking their health now and then, and always when you buy a second-hand computer. Windows can show you the essentials without installing anything, and free tools give you the full picture in a minute or two.

Quick answer: on Windows 11, open Settings, then System, Storage, Advanced storage settings, Disks and volumes, select the SSD and click Properties to see Drive health and estimated remaining life. For more detail on any SSD, run a free tool such as CrystalDiskInfo or your drive maker’s own utility.

Key takeaways

SSDs report their own health through SMART data, which Windows and free tools can read.
Windows 11 shows estimated remaining life for NVMe SSDs in Settings.
PowerShell can show health status and wear without extra software.
CrystalDiskInfo shows a health percentage and total data written for most drives.
A health warning is a signal to back up immediately, not a reason to wait.

Method 1: Windows 11 Settings (NVMe SSDs)

Open Settings and choose System, then Storage.
Click Advanced storage settings, then Disks and volumes.
Select your SSD and click Properties.
Look under Drive health for estimated remaining life, available spare and temperature.

This view only appears for NVMe drives. If you do not see a Drive health section, your SSD is probably a SATA model, so use one of the methods below.

Method 2: PowerShell

Right-click the Start button, choose Terminal (Admin) or Windows PowerShell (Admin), and run:

Get-PhysicalDisk | Select FriendlyName, MediaType, HealthStatus

A HealthStatus of Healthy is what you want. For wear and temperature, run:

Get-PhysicalDisk | Get-StorageReliabilityCounter | Select DeviceId, Wear, Temperature, ReadErrorsTotal

Wear is the percentage of the drive’s rated endurance that has been used. Some drives leave this field blank, in which case a dedicated tool will show more.

Good to know: The old wmic command that many guides still mention has been deprecated by Microsoft and may not be available on newer Windows 11 installations. The PowerShell commands above do the same job.

Method 3: CrystalDiskInfo

CrystalDiskInfo is a free, widely used utility that reads the drive’s SMART data. Install it from the developer’s official site, open it, and it shows:

Health status: Good, Caution or Bad, often with a percentage.
Temperature.
Total host writes: how much data has been written to the drive in its life.
Power on hours and power on count.

Method 4: Your SSD maker’s tool

Brand	Free tool
Samsung	Samsung Magician
Western Digital and SanDisk	WD Dashboard
Crucial	Crucial Storage Executive
Kingston	Kingston SSD Manager
Seagate	SeaTools

These tools also install firmware updates, which can fix bugs that affect reliability.

How to read the results

What you see	What it means	What to do
Good or Healthy, wear low	Plenty of life left	Nothing, check again in a few months
Remaining life or health below about 50%	Well into its rated endurance	Keep backups current and plan a replacement
Caution	The drive has logged errors or reallocated sectors	Back up now and replace soon
Bad, or the drive turns read-only	Failure is likely or under way	Copy off your data immediately and replace the drive

Watch out: Do not run defragmentation tools on an SSD. Windows handles SSDs correctly with its built-in optimise function, which sends TRIM commands instead of moving files around and adding unnecessary writes.

Signs an SSD is failing

Files that will not open or come back corrupted.
The computer freezes or crashes when saving or copying.
Windows reports file system errors or asks to repair the drive.
The drive suddenly becomes read-only.
The computer cannot find the drive at start-up.

Pro tip: Check the drive the day a second-hand or refurbished computer arrives and keep a screenshot. It gives you a baseline to compare against, the same way a battery report does for the battery. Our guide to checking laptop battery health covers that side.

What to do next

If your SSD is worn or showing warnings, back up first, then replace it. Our refurbished SSDs are tested before sale, and if the computer still runs on a hard drive, read whether an SSD upgrade is worth it. If the whole machine is due for retirement, every laptop in our refurbished laptops range ships with a tested SSD and a 1-year warranty. Before you pass an old drive on, wipe it properly as described in our guide to refurbished laptop data security.

Frequently asked questions

How long does an SSD last?

Most SSDs outlast the computer they are in under normal use. Each drive has an endurance rating in terabytes written, and typical office and home use stays well below it for years.

Can I check SSD health without software?

Yes. Windows 11 shows Drive health for NVMe SSDs in Settings, and PowerShell can show health status and wear for most drives.

What does 100% wear mean?

It means the drive has reached its rated write endurance. Many drives keep working past that point, but the risk of failure rises, so replace it and keep backups.

Is CrystalDiskInfo safe?

It is a long-established free utility. Download it only from the developer’s official website to avoid bundled software from third-party download sites.

A two-minute check a few times a year, plus a working backup, means an SSD problem becomes a planned replacement instead of lost work.

News

How to Check SSD Health on Windows (Free Methods)