Advice Request What SSD or HDD monitor/analysis software do you use?

[upnorth]

Normally when a disk ( ssd/hdd ) breaks down or is about to, software like this gets interesting. That also includes myself and is an obvious reason for creating this thread/poll, but I always tends to jump between a few different vendors and never have any saved/installed over a long period of time. I'm curious on what other people/members maybe use or have experience of and can also recommend. I'll include a few basic and well known ones.

For example, Windows built-in S.M.A.R.T. check is of course very easy and quick, but a bit poor and I personal found it not 100% accurate when I compared with two other softwares.

Spoiler: links

Hard Disk Sentinel - HDD health and temperature monitoring

Monitoring hard disk health and temperature. Test and repair HDD problems, predict disk failure.

www.hdsentinel.com

CrystalDiskInfo

About CrystalDiskInfo A HDD/SSD utility software which supports a part of USB, Intel RAID and NVMe. Aoi Edition Standard Edition Shizuku Edition Kurei Kei Edition Download System Requirements OS Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10/11Windows Server 2003/2008/2012/2016/2019/2022 Architecture x86/x64/ARM64...

crystalmark.info

HDDScan - FREE HDD and SSD Test Diagnostics Software

HDDScan is a Free test tool for hard disk drives, USB flash, RAID volumes and SSD drives. The utility can check your disk for bad blocks in various test modes.

hddscan.com

CPU-Z | Softwares | CPUID

CPU-Z for Windows® x86/x64 is a freeware that gathers information on some of the main devices of your system : Processor name and number, codename, process, package, cache levels. Mainboard and chipset. Memory type, size, timings, and module specifications (SPD). Real time...

www.cpuid.com

WD Software

List of all WD firmware and software available for download.

support.wdc.com

SeaTools | Seagate US

SeaTools - Quick diagnostic tool that checks the health of your drive.

www.seagate.com

How to Check Your Hard Drive or SSD’s Health With S.M.A.R.T.

Hard drives and SSDs use S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) to gauge their own reliability and determine if they’re failing. You can view your hard drive’s S.M.A.R.T. data and see if it has started to develop problems.

www.howtogeek.com

Samsung Magician Software | Samsung V-NAND SSD

Samsung Magician software is designed to help you manage your Samsung SSD with a simple, intuitive user interface. Download files & find supported models.

www.samsung.com

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

I use none, but a great thread and curious to see what others use and/or recommend

 

[Freud2004]

O&O Defrag.

Defrag and monitor storage.

 

[FireHammer]

O&O Defrag & Crystaldiskinfo.

 

[ForgottenSeer 85179]

Other:
ClearDiskInfo
HWiNFO64

 

[upnorth]

O&O is an interesting vendor IMO, as I use a few other of their products and also saw they have a specific monitor tool called DiskStat 2. They also got another product that I have used and tested before. Just don't recall it's disk monitor feature.

Overview of O&O Syspectr | O&O Syspectr

Manage and monitor your network. Anytime. Anywhere.

www.syspectr.com

 

[Cortex]

I used to use Crystal Disk, but got a goood offer on Hard Disk Sentinel so I bought it., wasn't much - I also have Hw-Info on

 

[upnorth]

I also have Hw-Info on

That seems like a possible good one. It's even freeware. Btw, do you use any of the add-ons?

Add-ons | HWiNFO

Extensions available to enhance HWiNFO32/64 experience in many different ways. HWiNFOMonitor, HWiNFO Sidebar Gadget, RivaTuner, Rainmeter, Samurize, LCDHost...

www.hwinfo.com

 

[Cortex]

No, I use it on any PC I have to fix etc as well as mine, it's good also for fan speeds & temperature, voltages, very handy program, for it to be free is something else. According to the site blurb it's used by NASA, not sure in what capacity though

 

[Pat MacKnife]

O&O Defrag.

Defrag and monitor storage.

Many people do not know, but for SSD defrag is not needed ... it will shorten life for an SSD
I also use Hwinfo64

 

[ForgottenSeer 85179]

Many people do not know, but for SSD defrag is not needed ... it will shorten life for an SSD

And Windows doesn't do that unlike third party tools.

Windows only optimise SSDs which is called TRIM.

 

[bribon77]

I have, CrystalDiskInfo and Hard Disk Sentinel, AIDA64.
But I have also used sometimes, HDD Regenerator, in mechanical disks, I do not know if it works in SSD.

 

[Pat MacKnife]

And Windows doesn't do that unlike third party tools.

Windows only optimise SSDs which is called TRIM.

Do you mean build in defrag tool in windows ?
I disabled build in, because it was On by default to defrag 1 a week.
As i understand it doesn't hurt with the build in tool ?
Just tested : click on optimize and i see trimmed.

 

[plat]

Well, I definitely use CPU-Z but....I very recently purchased a new SSD so after some prelim. benchmarks, I was satisfied it really was at the beginning of its long and fascinating journey aboard my machine..cof.

HWiNFO64 almost exclusively--a jack of all trades on here. Crystal Disk Info, in conjunction with Crystal Disk Mark benchmark. Windows Disk Optimization on demand, usually as part of the weekly maintenance routine.

Could you consider to add Samsung Magician, upnorth?

Re: addons for HWiNFO: yes, I use the RivaTuner Statistics Server tab so that my cpu/gpu temperatures are able to be viewed in-game.

Edit: thanks, upnorth, changed vote as the Magician is used more in line with a maintenance and firmware update mindset. Took off the Crystal Disk Info as it's rarely utilized.

 

[ForgottenSeer 85179]

Do you mean build in defrag tool in windows ?

Yes

 

[TairikuOkami]

Manufacturer's tool for a quick review, otherwise HWiNFO. CrystalDiskInfo displays info in binary numbers, I guess it is for nerds.

 

[upnorth]

Could you consider to add Samsung Magician, upnorth?

Added.

 

[Freud2004]

I am trying to keep the things simple around here, O&O to defrag and information about files and speccy just to monitor the health and temperature.

 

[roger_m]

And Windows doesn't do that unlike third party tools.

Windows only optimise SSDs which is called TRIM.

Windows does defrag SSDs.

The real and complete story - Does Windows defragment your SSD?

There has been a LOT of confusion around Windows, SSDs (hard drives), and ...

www.hanselman.com

The short answer is, yes, Windows does sometimes defragment SSDs, yes, it's important to intelligently and appropriately defrag SSDs, and yes, Windows is smart about how it treats your SSD.

Many people do not know, but for SSD defrag is not needed ... it will shorten life for an SSD
I also use Hwinfo64

While fragmentation for SSDs won't affect performance anywhere near as much it does for hard drives, sometimes they do need to be defragged. This is why Windows defrags SSDs. I use O&O Defrag and it results in better performance, shown by CrystalDiskMark. Defragging SSDs won't have a significant impact on their life.

 

[monkeylove]

I read somewhere that features for drive monitoring will be made available in Win 10 in the future. Meanwhile, I decided to just use Open Hardware Monitor to add temperature numbers for the CPU and GPU in the system tray, and CrystalDiskInfo to check drives and just make a sound if temperature or health conditions exceed a given threshold.

For defrag, I tried all sorts, and results are mixed: they would speed up systems, and then cause them to slow down weeks later. The same happened to Windows defrag. Given that, I decided to just do things conservatively: use the built-in defrag with default settings scheduled (weekly trim of SSD and defrag of all other drives), and then just run the free or giveaway version of a fast third-party defrag (that follows any prefetch layout and copies the built-in defrag algorithm) manually if things don't improve.