Utility for solid state drives. How can you find out the status of your hard drive (HDD) or SSD?

When purchasing a laptop or desktop computer, it is advisable to use solid state drives (SSD). Compared to traditional hard drives (HDD), every SSD drive test shows their advantages. The advantage of solid-state drives is stable and fast operation, lower power consumption and superiority in all parameters except cost. But this does not mean that SSDs are completely flawless.

Due to the design of solid-state drives, they have a low operating life of 5 to 7 years. If you know what to watch out for and how to protect your drive, you can significantly extend its life.

In SSDs, unlike hard drives, there is no physical movement of the platters. This property creates immunity from many problems of old hard drives. Despite its immunity to mechanical damage, other SSD components may fail.

SSDs require a power supply and a capacitor, which are prone to failure. This is especially true in cases of power failure or power surges. When the power goes out, data on SSDs can become corrupted, even on a perfectly healthy drive.

Another possible problem with SSDs is the limited number of read or write cycles. All types of flash memory have a similar problem.

Average SSD runtimes have been measured for many years, so don't be paranoid. Modern SSDs have become less susceptible to read and write problems than older versions.

If you want to know about the errors and performance of the SSD drive in order to have time to create backup copies of important information, then you can check it.

Checking errors and functionality using programs

To check the functionality of an SSD drive, special programs are used, the functionality of which ensures the execution of error tests. Let's take a look at this software.

CrystalDiskInfo

The free CrystalDiskInfo utility checks disk read and write speed. Displays data about temperature and health status. Supports S.M.A.R.T technology for assessing the condition of the drive. The CrystalDiskInfo application has an installable and portable version. When working with the installed version, the status of solid-state drives is monitored in real time. An icon for the program you are using appears in the system tray. The CrystalDiskInfo utility will effectively check your SSD for bad sectors.

SSD check:

Downloading, installing and launching the CrystalDiskInfo program.
Scanning the drive to assess its condition and presence of errors. Then the result is displayed.
The main actions are performed in the “Service” tab in the main menu. There is functionality for specifying disk rescanning.

SSD Life

Errors and performance of the SSD are determined using the SSD Life program. This free utility is designed only to work with SSD drives. It provides early monitoring of decreased performance levels. There is a portable and installation version. The second option visually displays the disk status online so that the user has the opportunity to monitor the situation in advance.

The application's working window has an extremely simple interface. It shows the predicted operating time of the drive, total operating time, condition assessment, etc. The report data is updated using special keys at the bottom.

SSDReady

You can diagnose an SSD using the SSDReady program. Its functions were:

Monitoring the status of the SSD disk.
Estimating potential work duration.
Other relevant statistics.

The application conducts a daily analysis of data read and written to the disk. It is an excellent option for checking drives for general performance and errors.

DiskCheckup

To test your SSD hard drive for performance and speed, you can use the DiskCheckup utility. This software provides monitoring of S.M.A.R.T attributes of an individual drive. As in the programs described above, this application displays hard drive statistics. The information helps track the health status of the device. The functionality of the product is almost no different from the described applications.

HDDScan

HDDScan is a free utility that diagnoses different types of hard drives. The program will be a convenient tool that will help the user search for errors on the hard drive. Showing S.M.A.R.T attributes and changing certain parameters is supported.

This product can be used to continuously test your drive to prevent degradation. The application will help you avoid losing important files by creating backups.

SSD Warning Signs

A ticking or incessant buzzing sound from a disk is considered a sure sign of a broken disk. Unlike HDDs, SSDs do not make loud noise, but there are certain signs of bad sectors of the disk. Let's look at such problems and how to fix them.

Damage to SSD storage sectors

These situations occur when the computer tries to save or read a file. The process takes too long and ends unsuccessfully. As a result, the system displays a message indicating an error has occurred.

Common symptoms of damage to bad blocks (storage sectors):

The system is slow, especially when using large files.
Presence of frequent errors when transferring files.
Active applications crash or freeze.
Requirement to restore the computer's file system.
The file cannot be written to or read from the hard drive.

If you observe such symptoms, you should run any of the utilities described above to check for physical problems with the disk. If the errors are confirmed, then you need to immediately create backup copies of the information and think about purchasing a new SSD drive for replacement.

Files cannot be written or read

There are two ways in which bad storage sectors affect files:

The system detects a bad block while writing data to the drive. This entails the system refusing to write data.
Detection of a bad block by the system after data is written. Refusal to read this data.

In the first case, the data will not be written at all, so it will not be damaged. The system automatically blocks access to detected faulty units. They will be ignored in subsequent entries. If this is not done automatically, then the user needs to save the file to another folder or copy it to the cloud. Then the computer is restarted and the file is saved in the desired location.

If the second case occurs, then data will not be easy to obtain. You need to use several methods to recover data from a damaged SSD drive. It will be very difficult to recover data. The presence of bad blocks indicates permanent data loss.

The file system needs to be restored

A message about this error appears on the screen due to the computer being turned off incorrectly (not through “Shutdown”). Previously, this meant the development of bad blocks in the SSD or a problem in the connector or port.

Nowadays such problems can be solved quite simply. Windows, Linux, and Mac have built-in tools that can repair damaged file systems. After such errors, the operating system prompts the user to launch using the appropriate tools. You must follow the instructions to restore the file system.

During this process, there are chances of losing some data, and recovery is a rather long process. This is another reason to back up your files periodically.

Frequent crashes when loading

If the computer crashes during the boot process, but after restarting it works normally, then the hard drive is to blame. This is due to damage to storage sectors or is a sign of disk failure. It's better to create a backup before the files are lost forever.

The check is carried out by the above-mentioned diagnostic programs. When creating a backup copy of your data, you can format the disk and reinstall the OS.

Disk is read-only

This doesn't happen often. The solid state drive refuses to perform operations that involve writing data to the disk. The drive continues to operate in read-only mode. The disk does not modify files, and data can be easily transferred to another storage location.

You shouldn't throw away an SSD like this right away. You can connect it as an additional hard drive or an external hard drive to other computers. You need to make sure that the operating system is not booting from the SSD.

If the SSD continues to operate in read-only mode, you can restore all files before formatting.

A number of diagnostic applications are used to test your SSD. Most of them have simple functionality that monitors the status of the SSD drive online. If your computer has such a disk, you can use the functionality of the programs to carry out regular monitoring. This will allow timely status checking and protect data from unwanted losses.

Hello dear readers, I once wrote an article about, I am continuing this topic, only this time the topic will be about new SSD drives. Namely, I will show free program which will be possible download for free and read the instructions for it.

Program for ssd drives

The program is very easy to use, you just need to know what to press.

Download the program for free SSD Mini Tweaker :

The archive contains two versions of the program for 32 and 64 bit systems. To see what system you have, select computer properties.

We launch it and see this window:

After checking the boxes, click Apply changes.

Now more about checkmarks in a program for managing SSD hard drives.

Enable Trim— it’s better to leave it, since this function is responsible for clearing unused blocks. If you disable this option, a mountain of garbage may accumulate, which will affect .
Disable Superfetch- a function for caching frequently used files. Since the response is small in SSDs, the option can be disabled.
Disable Prefetcher— an option to speed up the launch of the operating system and programs. Because SSD drives have excellent speed, then the option can be disabled, freeing up system memory.
Leave the system kernel inmemory— usually the system kernel is dumped into the swap file. In order for the kernel to remain, you need to check the box. This can reduce the number of disk accesses and speed up the system. But a minimum of 2 GB of RAM is required!
Increase file system cache size — 2 GB of RAM is also required. Reduces physical memory space for services and applications, but improves performance by reducing data writes to disk, hence it is good for the file subsystem.
Remove the limit from NTFS in terms of memory use - Again, a sufficient amount of RAM is necessary. The number of updated data in memory for writing and reading files increases. After this feature, running multiple applications at the same time should improve.

Disable defragmentation of system files at boot— boot defragmentation is a useful thing, but not with an SSD. If defragmentation is enabled at startup, the SSD drive can even be damaged!

Disable Windows Indexing System- the service is disconnected Windows Search, which is used to index folders and files on a disk. In SSD Windows Search is unlikely to improve performance, so disable it.

You can also speed up performance by manually disabling file content indexing.

Disable hibernation mode- turning off the mode hibernation can free up memory on the SSD disk if it is small. In Kratsi hibernation is needed to dump data to a file hiberfil.sys, and when turned on, restore the information back to memory. Read more about this in the article

Disable security feature systems- You can also disable system recovery, which frees up RAM and hard drive. But the system restore function will not be available. If you don't use it, turn it off. I always have it disabled, I don't like it.

Disable defragmentation service— they say that defragmentation is not necessary for an SSD drive. But I advised you to disable it and do defragmentation according to my article, called defragmentation by 5 points.

Disable paging file cleanup — for SSD disks, it is recommended to disable clearing the paging file when the system is turned off. Due to unnecessary disk access. Turn it off.

That's all, now you have program for optimizing SSD drives=)

Hello admin! I decided the other day to buy a solid state drive! I came to a computer store and told the seller:

Sell me the fastest SSD!

and they answered me:

Here you go, Kingston HyperX 3K (120 GB, SATA-III) speed 555 MB/s, excellent SSD, it doesn’t get any faster.

Prove it!

Apparently they wanted to sell me this SSD so much that they installed it on the computer and ran the test in the CrystalDiskMark program, then showed the test result, here is the screenshot:

Sequential read speed of 541 MB/s and write speed of 493 MB/s, I even took a photo of it with my phone.

In short, I bought this SSD, came home, connected it to my computer, then downloaded and launched the “CrystalDiskMark” program and ran the same test, but the result was worse!

Sequential read speed of 489 MB/s and write speed of 127 MB/s. Why?

In the store, the test was carried out on a computer with an Intel® Core™ i5 processor and 4GB of memory, but my computer is more powerful and is built on an Intel® Core™ i7 processor and has 8GB of memory.

Explain to the admin what the catch is, otherwise I won’t sleep, after all, this SSD costs 3 and a half rubles.

Hi all! Yes, this can happen, friends, you just need to know how to use the CrystalDiskMark program. Now I will show you everything.

Note: You may be interested in our other articles on SSDs

We will conduct the SSD test in the CrystalDiskMark 3 0 3 program

The program can be downloaded from the official website http://crystalmark.info/download/index-e.html

CrystalDiskMark tests our SSD this way:.

All: All 4 tests are performed (Seq, 512K, 4K, 4K QD32);

Seq: Sequential write/read test (block size= 1024Kb);

512K: Random write/read test (block size = 512Kb);

4K: Random write/read test (block size = 4Kb);

4K QD32: Random write/read test (block size = 4Kb, queue depth = 32) for NCQ and AHCI;

The final result.

First, test your SSD or any other hard drive correctly! The fastest SSD will read and write information is the area filled with only zeros. To do this, in CrystalDiskMark, select file from the menu File->Test Data->All 0x0000 (Fill).

I also have this Kingston HyperX 3K SSD (120 GB, SATA-III) and now I will do a simple test.

In the operating system, the SSD drive is under the letter D:, which means in the program settings select the letter D: and click

The test of our SSD for sequential read and write speed begins!

In a minute we get the result. Sequential read and write speed 543 MB/s (read), 507 MB/s (write)

Now we do the test differently. File->Test Data->Default (Random)

After a minute, we get a result completely different from when testing with the All 0x0000 (Fill) option. Sequential read and write speed 499 MB/s (read), 149 MB/s (write)

It is also important for the SSD to work properly to connect it to your motherboard correctly. All solid-state drives have a high-speed SATA 3.0 (6 Gb/s) interface, and your motherboard probably has such connectors. For example, my ASUS P8Z77-V PRO motherboard has four SATA 6 Gb/s ports and they are marked accordingly SATA 6G, which means we connect the SSD according to the marking.

To connect the SATA 6 Gb/s SSD interface, use a native SATA 6 Gb/s data cable!

In this article you will learn how to find out the main characteristics of solid-state drives, as well as how to test them. For this operation, we took the SSD-Z utility, which we will review today. It is free and has useful features in its arsenal. You can download it immediately from here.

When you first launch the program, many users will immediately say that it is similar to or other similar utilities, and yes it is, so it will be easier for them to understand it.

On the tab Device shows all disk information. Now I will explain each point presented, this is for those who do not know English.

Device name – name of the solid-state drive;
Firmware - ;
Serial Number – serial number;
Controller – controller that is used in the disk;
Technology – production technology;
Сells – type of memory cells used;
Launch Date – drive creation date;
TRIM – Availability;
Capabilities – technologies supported in SSD;
Interface – interface through which the disk is connected;
SMART – disk status;
Temperature – current disk temperature;
POH – operating time;
Capacity – disk capacity;
Bytes Written – byte written;
Volumes – drive letter;
Partitions – partition type ();
Sector Size – size of one sector.

This is interesting:

As you can see, there are a lot of parameters and this is only on one tab. All information is important and may be useful in some situations. Of course, if the utility database contains your drive model, then the information will certainly be found. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to recognize information about the newly released disc. Although there are utilities that take information from the system and other sources for absolutely any drive.

Checking the SSD Status

I already wrote an article about how this program has a similar function and it’s called S.M.A.R.T. I will write more about this technology, so stay tuned for site updates.

In this section you will find information on read errors, disk operating time, temperature and other useful information. Of course, when using the utility you will get much more information.

When you go to a tab Partitions we receive data about the partitions and disks that exist on the computer. To select another disk, you need to select it at the bottom of the program.

SSD speed testing

The SSD-Z utility also has an SSD speed testing function. It is located on the tab Benchmark. Since the program is still raw, it is better not to expect objective information from the results.

The remaining tabs do not provide particularly useful information. I think the program is not bad and it still has room for improvement. It would not be bad if all the functions were organized in the best possible way and collected in one place, so as not to use several programs.

When working on a PC with hard drives, many things connect us. We often copy and transfer a lot of information and install programs. In this regard, there are many overwrites, the disk is constantly working, which means that over time its condition will deteriorate.

In this article I want to tell you about tools that will help you find out the status of your hard drive or . First, let's start with the tools that are built into Windows, because some people are outraged that many blogs often describe third-party programs for this matter.

How to check the status of your hard drive using Windows 10?

I'll look at how to use the status check tool below, but before I start, I'll say a few words about this method.

When using this method, you will be shown two states: All disks are working normally, or working poorly. Encouraging, isn't it?

How good or how bad the disk is is unknown, since the system takes information from S.M.A.R.T - analysis or self-monitoring of the hard disk. If the value is displayed Good, then the disk is working properly, but if Bad, then something is wrong with the disk. You will not find out more information about the disk using this tool. Conclusion? It's a so-so tool, it's better to use third-party applications, no matter how much you want it.

For those who still want to try, here are the instructions:

Press the Win+X keys and select “Control Panel”;
Go to the “System and Security” section;
Security and Service Center;
Open the “Maintenance” tab;
We are looking for an item.

Let's use the program and see what information it shows us.

As we can see, there is plenty of information about the disk. If the condition is bad, the program will tell you about it. I'm fine with both disks.

You can also use the program. The information there may be in English, but I think you’ll figure it out, especially since Yandex and Google translators are available to everyone.

Useful articles:

CHKDSK Disk Checker

In fact, the built-in chkdsk utility is not intended to check the status of the hard drive; it is needed to correct errors related to the file system, for example, NTFS. Also, the utility is unable to fix bad blocks.

In our case, we will do the following. Let's run the chkdsk utility, which will generate a report for us about the file system, but not about the state of the hard drive.

Go to “Computer” and right-click on the drive you are interested in, for example (C:). Select an item "Properties".

Go to the tab "Service" and click on the button "Check" See the "Checking for Errors" section.

A window appears in which we click on the “Check disk” button. We're waiting for a while.

As soon as the process is completed, the tool will notify you about it. To find out more information, click on the button "Show details". A window will immediately open in which you need to double-click on the specified item "Intelligence".

The “General” tab will show basic information about the file system, I hope you don’t have any problems there. If you wish, you can copy this information.

How to run chkdsk using the command line?

Very simple. Open the command line and enter the command with the following key.

/f– checking the disk for file system errors and correcting them.

If you are checking the "E:" drive, the command will look like this:

chkdsk e: /f

Articles where the chkdsk command is used:

I think that you need to understand the Victoria program, since it is very useful and provides not only useful information, but also allows for various software manipulations on disks, for example, fixing bad sectors.

And that’s all, don’t forget to subscribe to social media. networks and monitor the appearance of relevant information.