How to Check Your Hard Drive Health and S.M.A.R.T. Status in Windows

A failing hard drive or solid-state drive (SSD) is one of the most catastrophic hardware issues a computer can experience. If a drive dies unexpectedly, you risk losing all your personal files, photos, and documents permanently. Fortunately, modern hard drives and SSDs are equipped with a self-monitoring system known as S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology). This system constantly tracks the physical health of the drive and can alert you to impending hardware failure before it actually happens, giving you time to back up your data.

Checking S.M.A.R.T. Status Using the Command Prompt

Windows includes a built-in tool that can quickly poll your drives and report their overall S.M.A.R.T. health status. This method is incredibly fast and requires no third-party software.

1. Click the Start menu on your taskbar.
2. Type cmd into the search bar.
3. The “Command Prompt” app will appear in the search results. Right-click on it and select Run as administrator. (Click “Yes” if Windows asks for permission to make changes).
4. In the black Command Prompt window, carefully type the following command exactly as written: wmic diskdrive get status
5. Press Enter.

The terminal will output a simple list. If your drives are healthy, it will print the word OK for each drive connected to your system. If a drive is actively failing its hardware checks, it will print Pred Fail (Predictive Failure). If you see “Pred Fail,” you must back up your data immediately.

Checking Health in Windows 11 Settings

If you are using Windows 11, Microsoft has finally built a graphical interface for checking detailed drive health directly into the main Settings app, primarily focused on modern NVMe SSDs.

1. Open the Settings app (you can press the Windows Key + I on your keyboard).
2. In the left-hand sidebar, click on System.
3. In the main window, click on Storage.
4. Scroll down and click on Advanced storage settings to expand a hidden menu.
5. Click on Disks & volumes.
6. You will see a list of your drives. Click the Properties button next to the primary drive you want to check.

On the properties page, scroll down to the “Drive health” section. Here, Windows will display the drive’s estimated remaining lifespan (as a percentage), its current operating temperature, and any active warning messages regarding its S.M.A.R.T. status.