How To Check your SSD’s Health

Evan Gower April 18, 2019

Today it is common to see desktop and laptop computers with solid-state drives (SSD) instead of hard drives. SSDs are growing in popularity because they are more resistant to physical damage and run silently and more smoothly. They are also quicker to get your system up and running.

In the last few years, SSDs have become much more accessible to regular consumers. They have great overall performance, but their lifespan is shorter than regular hard drives. Even though you’ll probably replace the whole computer before your SSD stops working, it is good to keep track of its health.

Depending on your system and device, there are different ways to check your SSD’s health. In this article, we’ll look at some of those methods.

Checking SSD Health on Mac

If you have a Mac and want to see if your SSD is working well, you are in luck. Apple implemented an application that can check your drive’s status without any complications. Here is how:

Click on the ‘Finder’ icon. It’s the blue-and-white face icon in the bottom-left section of your Mac’s workspace. This helps you navigate throughout the database more easily.
Find ‘Applications’ on the left side and enter.
Enter the ‘Utilities’ folder. It is the blue folder with a wrench and a screwdriver on it.
Then go to ‘Disk Utility’. The icon looks like a stethoscope checking up on a hard drive. This menu contains all the tools you need to manage the hard drives you have on your device.
Find your SSD on the left side. If you have multiple drives, you will have to find the right one.
When the window opens, click on ‘First Aid’ at the top. The Icon looks like a stethoscope (this time without a drive). A pop-up will appear asking if you’d like to proceed with First Aid. On the lower-right, click ‘Run’. If you are doing a check up on your boot disk, you won’t be able to enter any other applications until the work is done.
When the check-up finishes, click on ‘Show Details’. If there are any unresolved issues with your SSD, this app will let you know.
If there are errors, the app will offer to fix them. If there are not, it means that your drive is completely healthy and that there is nothing to worry about for the time being.

Checking SSD Health on Windows

Unfortunately, Windows doesn’t have a built-in app that can show you a detailed report of your SSD’s health, but there is a lot of great third-party software that you can find online. This section will show you how to install and use one such program.

Go to the official website of CrystalDiskInfo, one of the most popular drive maintenance apps.
Use the Quick Download button to get the Standard Edition of the software.
Once your download is finished, go to the download location and find the setup file. It should be named ‘CrystalDiskInfo[current version].exe’.
Click on the setup file, and if the program asks you, allow it to make changes to your computer.
Accept the license agreement, set up the desired location to install the app, and hit next. Optionally, you can check the ‘Create Desktop Shortcut’ option to find the program more easily.
Once the app is successfully installed and you launch it, a window will appear showing various details about your drive. These details include everything from standard information (serial number, firmware, etc.) to dynamic changes (temperature, bad sectors, spin-up time, etc).
Select a drive that you want to check. All the drives are on top. If you want to check their health, you can see the ‘Health Status’ bar. If it’s labeled ‘Good’ with a 100% score, it means that your drive is completely healthy!

You can find many other third-party apps for SSD health online. They are all easy to install and work in a similar way. Some of the most popular choices include:

Care for Your SSD

SSD drives will be more durable in the future. With new technologies and care techniques, they will last for much longer than before. If you check up on them frequently using drive maintenance apps, you can extend their lifespan even further. So, make sure to regularly inspect the health of your SSD and fix any problems you may find.