How to check your disk health in Windows 11 to prevent data loss

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

You can avoid losing your data by routinely performing health checks. If you do a check and the drive says that it is failing, then you have time to back up your important data before any data loss occurs.

Windows 11 allows you to check the state of your HDD or SSD using built-in tools. Here’s how you can go about finding the status of your drive:

1. Open Settings (Press Win + i)
2. Go to System > Storage
3. Scroll down and click on Advanced storage settings
4. Click on Disks & volumes
5. Under each disk it will give the status, such as Healthy
6. Select your main drive from the list and click the Properties button next to it
7. Look at the Drive Health section; it will show you: Estimated remaining life, Available spare, and Current Temperature

It is a good idea to check the health every few months so that you don’t get caught out. However, don’t rely on it 100%; keep backing up regardless in case it misses a drive failure.

https://www.neowin.net/guides/how-to-check-your-disk-health-in-windows-11-to-prevent-data-loss/

 

[Parkinsond]

For recently manufactured only

 

[stonjean633]

Is this new to Win11? If it is, it's a welcome addition.

I'm old school.
I mostly rely on Crystaldisk.

 

[Divine_Barakah]

Is this new to Win11? If it is, it's a welcome addition.

I'm old school.
I mostly rely on Crystaldisk.

I'm using Hard Disk Sentinel. It is reliable.

 

[lokamoka820]

I use HWiNFO to check the status of system components in general on a monthly basis, and I used to use CrystalDiskInfo as well, but HWiNFO gives the same information in an understandable way because it displays the values in decimal format, while CrystalDiskInfo displays the values in hexadecimal format by default, which requires conversion to understand them.

 

[Marko :)]

I didn't know this was thing in Windows. I used to download Hard Disk Sentinel portable every few months to check the health, but this really eliminates the need.

 

[Morro]

I'm old school.
I mostly rely on Crystaldisk.

Me too, at least till now. Now I guess I no longer have to.

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

For recently manufactured only

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However, it's worth noting that the "Drive health" feature is only available for modern Non-Volatile Memory (NVMe) SSDs, not traditional Serial AT Attachment (SATA) or Hard Disk Drives (HDDs). If you have a non-supported media type, it's still possible to check the health with the "Performance Monitor" app, but the information won't be as rich.

https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/windows-11/how-to-find-out-the-ssd-health-on-windows-11