How to Check Hard Drive Health in Windows: 6 Effective Ways

Updated by

Linda 

Written by

Cici 

Last updated on April 22, 2024

The hard drive is one of the most important parts of a computer for storing data, and it's not something that can be easily swapped out like other software or hardware. Its life span is constantly being shortened with regular read and write operations.

Thus, keeping a close eye on the health of your hard disk drive is crucial in both Windows 11 and Windows 10 to prevent any unforeseen crashes and the subsequent loss of data. In this article, we attempt to explain the precise methods to check the health of your hard disk drive. Let's get started.

When to Check Hard Disk Health on Windows 11/10

Since the lifespan of a hard drive is unpredictable, you need to be vigilant about any signs of potential problems. Here are some symptoms to look out for to check if your disk is healthy and prevent hard drive failure:

Symptoms of a physical hard drive failure:

• Overheating
• High-pitched squealing or clicking noises
• Slow startup or performance

Symptoms of a logical hard drive failure:

• Blue screen of death (BSOD) errors
• Frequent system crashes
• Missing files/folders
• Inability to boot the operating system
• Increased loading time for files in File Explorer

Being able to identify HDD issues before they become a problem can save you from data loss and hassle. If you think your hardware is reaching the end of its lifespan, you can also prepare by purchasing a new storage drive in advance.

If you want to learn more about troubleshooting tools in Windows 11, you can click the link below:

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How to Check Hard Disk Health on Windows 11/10

There are multiple ways to check for physical and logical hard drive damage. Let's look at how you can examine the physical or logical health of your disk.

#1. Using the Tool Partition Master

Tool Partition Master is an all-in-one disk partition software for all Windows systems. It offers a "Disk Health" feature that can check various attributes of your hard drive, such as available space, health status, temperature, and performance.

This utility streamlines the process of using built-in Windows tools, making it easy for anyone – even non-technical users – to keep tabs on their computer's health. To check your hard drive's health, follow these steps:

Step 1. Launch AOMEI Partition Assistant, and click the blue arrow to activate the "Disk Health" feature in the "Discovery" section.

Step 2: Select the target disk and click on “Refresh”. Then, you can see the health status of your disk.

Also, the utility can perform a disk surface test to check if the file system is corrupted or there are bad sectors, and fix them. Feel free to share this professional yet easy method to help more friends monitor their disk health status on their own:

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Method 2: Through CMD

Windows includes a command-line tool to check the health of your hard disk and offers simple conclusions such as “OK” or “Failing Soon.” You can quickly run a disk health check using WMIC (Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line).

The steps to check hard disk health via CMD are as follows:

1. Press the `Windows` key + `R` to open the "Run" window, then type `cmd`. 2. Enter `"wmic"` and press `Enter`. 3. Type `"wmic diskdrive get status"`, then press `Enter` to view the disk's health status.

If it returns “OK”, the drive is working normally. If it returns “bad”, “unknown”, or “caution”, there is a problem with the hard disk and you should attempt to fix it using a tool such as Partition Master.

Method 3: Using CHKDSK

CHKDSK stands for “check disk.” This command is another way that Windows provides to check the health of your disk. The tool checks for integrity and logical errors in the file system and fixes them.

1. Open the Run window and type **cmd**. 2. In the Command Prompt, type **chkdsk** and press Enter. This will perform a basic scan. 3. To fix hard drive errors, use the command **chkdsk /f /r** and hit Enter.

For more detailed information about hard drives, click on the link below to learn more.

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Method 4: Defragment and Optimize Disks

Windows includes a built-in Disk Defragmenter tool that can analyze the level of fragmentation on your hard drive and help reorganize fragmented data. Using this tool can improve your disk's health and boost your computer's overall performance. To defrag your drive, do the following:

Step 1: Click on the search box, type in "defrag", then choose "Defragment and Optimize Drives".

Step 2: Select your hard drive and click “Optimize” to start defragmenting.

Video Tutorial: Checking Hard Drive Health

This video demonstrates the comprehensive approach to checking hard drive health presented on this page. For a more guided experience with additional details, follow along and learn more:

 

Method 5: Through the HDD Manufacturer's Tool

Most hard drive manufacturers offer free tools to check the health and performance of their drives, such as Western Digital, Samsung, and Seagate. If you're not sure who made your hard drive, you can look in Device Manager:

Step 1: Right-click the Windows icon and select Device Manager.

Step 2: Click "Disk Drives" to view the list of storage devices.

Step 3: Type the model number of your disk into the Google search bar to see if you can find the manufacturer's name.

Step 4. Download and install the tool provided by the manufacturer to check the hard drive's status.

Here are the download pages for some popular hard drive manufacturers:

• Seagate
• Samsung
• Western Digital

#6. Check the physical condition of the hard drive

This is the fastest and easiest way to check your hard drive's health. You'll need to open your computer case safely, then check on the status of the drive according to the steps below:

Step 1: Check the Connections Make sure all your cables are connected securely and correctly.

< strong >Step 2:< /strong > Blow away the dust: Use a can of compressed air to safely blow dust off your case and hard drive.

Step 3: Check for external damage: Look for any obvious external damage, and listen for strange sounds.

If your hard drive has physical damage, you might need to replace it with a new one. If the hard drive doesn't have any physical damage, you can proceed with a logical check as outlined above.

Now that you've learned six ways to check your hard drive's health, feel free to explore more topics related to hard drives by clicking the buttons below:

Conclusion

Hard drives are essential storage devices that, if not checked periodically, can cause more damage. This article helps you determine when you should run a disk check. For instance, it's time to pay attention to your hard drive's health when you hear strange noises, your hard drive is heating up, or you're getting error messages frequently.

This article offers 5 effective ways to check hard drive health on Windows 11/10. Among them, Partition Master is the easiest one. As a powerful disk partition manager, it not only can check hard drive health but also offers repair features if there are damaged file systems and bad sectors.

Also, you can use it to check if a hard drive is bad, determine if a hard drive is new or used, and more.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Checking Hard Drive Health

Let's look at some common questions about checking your hard drive's health:

1. How can I tell if my hard drive is about to fail?

Any of these signs indicate a problem with your hard drive that could affect its lifespan:

• The hard drive makes loud noises and overheats.
• It has slow boot-up and processing speeds.
• There are numerous bad sectors on the hard drive.
• Data loss occurs, and files cannot be opened.
• The computer frequently displays blue or black screens.

2. What's the best program for checking the health of an HDD?

AOMEI Partition Assistant is one of the best tools to check HDD health status. It can also fix bad sectors and damaged file systems. Alternatively, you can use the built-in command-line tool CHKDSK in Windows, which also offers great functionality, but you have to be careful not to make mistakes with the parameters when typing commands.

3. How can I check the health of my hard drive?

You can use a utility like Partition Master to check the health of your hard drive, or you can use a command-line tool in Windows.

Step 1: Press Windows + R to open the Run window, then type cmd.

Step 2: Type CHKDSK, and then press Enter.