Which is the one component of your computer, which, if it breaks down, would create a huge mess for you? If you’re thinking about the hard drive, then you and I are on the same page. Techies consider the hard drive to be the most precious component of the PC. And that too, for all the right reasons. If, by any chance, anything happens to your hard drive, you could end up losing all your data. That’s how essential this component is.
However, it is important to understand that just like our organs start giving us signals if something unusual is happening, in a similar way, the hard drive, too, starts giving us signals if it has started developing bad sectors with time. So, it is extremely essential to keep a check on the health of the hard drive. But, the question is how to test hard drive health?
Well, in this post, I’m going to tell you the various methods, how you can keep a check on the health of the hard drive, using some easy steps.
How to Test Hard Drive Health?
The hard drive is often considered to be the heart and soul of the computer as this is the place where all your important data and files are stored. The hard drive is extremely important, as all other components of the computer can be replaced and changed, but a hard drive cannot be changed till the time you have a total backup for it. Hence, it becomes very crucial to check hard drive health.
How to check health of HDD becomes an extremely important question, but it can be answered by giving the solution in just a few easy methods.
Method 1: Windows CHKDSK Tool
This built-in Windows tool scans your disk to find any bad sectors and helps you rectify them too. This tool is beneficial as if performed frequently, your hard disk health will be healthy as you will keep correcting the errors time and again. This hard disk drive health checker will also keep you informed if there is a bigger problem to cater to and fix. This is one of the easiest answers if you too have the same question of how to test hard drive health?
All you need to do is:
- Open File Explorer, and right-click on the drive you would like to check.
- Select Properties, and click on the Tools Tab.
- Click on Check.
You will now get a message saying You don’t need to scan this drive. However, you still must run a manual scan to test your hard drive health, and rectify bad sectors if there are any.
However, you can also use the CHKDSK tool in an alternate method, too. This one involves using the command prompt. But this will give you the detail of the bad sector of the hard disk drive, and will also find a solution if any problem is detected.
All you need to do is:
- Type in cmd in the search bar, and open the command prompt.
- You can type chkdsk which will check the disk you are in.
You will now get a brief summary of the issues and problems that must be there on your hard disk. Navigate to bad disk sector summary. Ideally, the comment in front of it should be zero. If not, call your technician immediately or find a solution to resolve this problem, or it could lead to some really serious consequences.
Method 2: Optimize and Defragmentation
Although SSDs rarely need defragmentation because of their unusual and different working, but sometimes optimizing them is a good idea. Especially when you feel that your disk is slowing down. If you want to check SSD health, then try checking how fragmented the drive is, as it tells you the hard disk’s health.
- Press the Windows Key, and type in Defragment and optimize drive.
- Open the application that pops, and click on Analyze.
- If fragmentation is detected, then you must click on Optimize.
Method 3: CrystalDisk Info
If you wish to analyze and understand the minutest of the details, then this desktop program is for you. CrystalDisk Info displays information about your disks. The top left portion also tells the health of your hard disk. The result could be good, caution, bad and unknown.
You must take action if the result shown for you is anything other than good.
Method 5: Use the HDD Manufacturer’s Tools
If you know your computer well, you might be knowing that your hard drive manufacturer has provided you with a free tool that would be able to monitor the health of your HDD and its performance.
For this, you must know the make of your hard drive. However, if you don’t, then press the Windows key and type in Device Manager. Open the application and unstack the disk drives option and note down the model number of the hard drive. All you need to do now is to type in the hard disk model number on google, and your desired result will show up.
Lastly, you would need to go to the hard disk manufacturer’s website and search for its hard drive utility. This method acts as a great hard disk drive health checker tool.
Conclusion
How to test hard drive health becomes a relatively important question as most of our lives depend on our computer and the data inside of it. Imagine what would a crash of your hard disc do to your life. This component of your PC is irreplaceable unless you have a backup of all the stored data on your computer. I hope that these methods act as a great hard disk drive health checker for you, and it helps you understand how to test HDD health.
All the best!
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