A hard drive, the storage of all information in a computer, is crucial for its user. But, due to various reasons, hard drives can suffer malfunctions. Apart from the hardware limitation part, they are also vulnerable to malicious files and viruses.
Errors in disk drives are generally detected and prompted for further resolution. However, considering the severity of data loss in a damaged hard drive scenario, it’s better to frequently health check it.
Thus, this article will explore ways to health check the hard drive in Windows.
How to Health Check Hard Drive?
There are several ways to check the hard drive on your PC. Entering commands in the commands prompt is the simplest way to health check your hard drive. First, we need to run the command prompt as an administrator.
- Press Windows + R keys and type
cmdon the Run command windows. - Press Ctrl + Shift + Enter and press Enter to open Command Prompt with administrative privilege.
Then, continue with the commands mentioned below:
Use WMIC Command
Utilizing the Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology(S.M.A.R.T), wmic command would return status OK for all your healthy disk drives. But, if your disk is on the verge of failure, the status will show Pred fail.
Here’re the steps:
- Type
wmic diskdrive get statuscommand and press Enter.
- Check the status.
Use CHKDSK Command
CHKDSK command will, by default, scan for errors in the drive with system files. This command will check your disk drive with different parameters. Upon execution, it would show a very detailed analysis of your drive.
If any errors are detected, you can also add flags to the command to fix them.
- Type the command:
chkdsk C: /f /r /xand press Enter.
- /f: Inspects and troubleshoots disk errors.
- /r: Recovers data from bad sectors and fixes them.
- /x: Unmounts drive and force stop all open handles.
- You can specify drives separately for inspection and replace C: with their assigned letters(D: or E: or any)each time.
Windows Drive Check Tool
The GUI replacement for the chkdsk commands is provided by Windows as a drive check utility tool. To health check your disk drives through the tool, follow the steps mentioned below:
- Press Windows + E keys.
- Right-click on a drive and choose Properties.
- Open the Tools tab.
- Click on the Check button under Error checking section.
- If Windows hasn’t already detected any error, click on the Scan Drive link in the dialog box.
- Proceed with the on-screen instructions if any error is detected.
- Do it for all the drive partitions of your disk.
Check Health From BIOS
Depending on your PC brand, the hard drives’ health inspection can be done through BIOS. Brands like HP, MSI, etc., provide users with such features to check the hard drive status. This feature comes in handy in situations of BSOD due to deteriorated boot drives.
Usually, to enter BIOS, one of the keys of the PC(F2 or F9) is pressed while powering it on. But, the exact steps may vary, so you can search online for your brand to follow the definite guide.
Use Tools From Drive Manufacturers
Since the modern disks are already embedded with the S.M.A.R.T feature, their manufacturers harness it through proprietary utility software. Or they may use their own patented tech for analysis and reporting purposes, but many companies provide default disk drive health check software.
Some major utility tools, along with their manufacturer, have been given below:
- Hutil by Samsung.
- SeaTools by Seagate
- WinDlg.exe by Western Digital
Third-Party Apps
Besides all the inbuilt methods, you can use various third-party tools to health check your hard drive. Some of the names include HD Tune, CrystalDiskInfo, etc.
What Can You Do if Your Hard Drive is Failing?
Another thing than the technical analysis to know about failing hard drives is to look for common errors while using. These errors include rampant prompts, laggy experience, etc. But either way, if you got to know about your failing hard drive, it is better to back up all the data. Then, you can go along with our comprehensive article on how to fix hard drive failure.
