How to Check Hard Drive Status with SMART

This step-by-step guide explains how to check hard drive status with smart. It covers the required setup, the main actions, and the checks that help prevent common problems.

• 3 ways to check hard drive effectively to help periodically check the hard drive

The hard drive does not exist forever and you often cannot realize that your hard drive is about to fail. Fortunately, most modern drives support SMART, so at least users can perform some basic self-monitoring steps. However, Windows does not have a built-in SMART data display tool for hard drives. You can view SMART status from Command Prompt, but to really see this information, you will need to install third-party apps. Now let's look at the details in the following article!

How to Check SMART Status with CrystalDiskInfo

CrystalDiskInfo (free) is an easy-to-use open source program that can display details of SMART status reported on your hard drive. You can download the portable version if you want.

When you launch CrystalDiskInfo, you will find this is a fairly simple app. This tool mainly shows SMART status information about your hard drive. If everything works normally, you will see the 'Good' status displayed. In the picture below, right below the menu bar, you can see that all three drives in the system are taken as an example of " Good " status and you can even see the temperature of each drive. Other states you may see include " Bad " (usually indicating a dead or nearly dead drive), " Caution " (denoting a drive that you should consider backing up and replacing) and " Unknown " "(only means that SMART information cannot be obtained).

You can also see a list of detailed information about each drive, but unless you are a professional or you are troubleshooting something very specific, that may not mean much to you. However, if you are interested, the Wikipedia page for SMART will provide a list of these properties, along with a specific explanation for each attribute.

There is really not much information about the app, but there is another remarkable feature indicated. If you are particularly concerned about the status of the drive, you can install CrystalDiskInfo to get started with Windows and run it as a background app. While it is running this way, CrystalDiskInfo sends a notification to alert you, if the SMART state has any changes. Just open the ' Function ' menu and turn on the ' Resident ' and ' Startup ' options.

How to Check SMART Status at Command Prompt

You can also view SMART status from Windows Command Prompt. To open the Command Prompt, select Start, type ' Command Prompt , ' and then press Enter .

At Command Prompt, enter (or copy and paste) the following command, then press Enter :

 wmic diskdrive get status 

Help If Dead Hard Drive

If the SMART state indicates that your hard drive has errors, it doesn't necessarily mean that your hard drive will have problems right away. However, if there is a SMART error, assume that your hard drive is going to be broken is not a bad idea. A complete collapse can come in a few minutes, a few months, or - in some cases - even a few years. However, no matter how long it lasts, you should not trust the faulty hard drive containing your important data.

• Fix 'hard drive' death hard drive

Make sure you have up-to-date backups of all files stored on another medium, such as an external hard drive or optical drive. Obviously, this is good advice whether you know the SMART state of the drive or not. Problems, including drive errors, can occur at any time and without any warning. After backing up the files properly, you should consider replacing your hard drive as soon as possible. You simply can't trust a hard drive that doesn't pass the SMART test. Even if your hard drive isn't completely dead, it can damage parts of the data. You can also consider using the Chkdsk tool in Windows to diagnose and fix any related issues that it can find.

Of course, the hardware is not perfect and the hard drive may fail without any SMART alerts. However, in some cases, SMART can give you some warnings before your hard drive has problems.