How to Check Hard Disk Health in Windows 11 PC – Guide
Your hard drive is the lifeblood of your PC, the place where all your most important data is stored. While most PC components can be replaced, the priceless data on your hard drive cannot unless you have a recent backup. That’s why it’s important to check the health of your hard drive in Windows 11. There are a number of ways to check this, from built-in methods in Windows to the hard drive manufacturer’s diagnostic tools. You can use all or just one of the methods below, depending on your preference. While you’re in the BIOS, it’s also a good place to see if the hard drive you’re trying to verify is actually recognized by your PC/motherboard. At Dell and HP laptops, you can check the health of the hard drive by going into the BIOS and searching for “Diagnostics”. Is it making noise or can’t find your files or is it too slow for this fast-paced world? Maybe it’s time to say goodbye to your hard drive. But before doing that, test the integrity of your hard drive in Windows using the following methods. It’s natural for your hard drive to make noise, especially if it’s old. The engine is a moving part that can deteriorate over time.
Check the BIOS
As long as you’re using a relatively modern motherboard, you can run hard disk checks in the BIOS, free of any OS-based interference. Restart your PC and after turning off and on again repeatedly by pressing Delete, F2, F12 or any other button the boot screen informs you, will take you to your BIOS. You can also configure Windows 10 to boot directly into the BIOS. Once in the BIOS, the exact instructions will depend on your motherboard manufacturer. On my MSI Mortar WiFi B550M in the BIOS, I can go to “Settings -> Advanced -> NVME self-test” to test the health of my NVMe drives. While you’re in the BIOS, it’s also a good place to see if the hard drive you want to check is actually being detected by your PC/motherboard. On Dell and HP laptops, you can check the health of the hard drive by going into the BIOS and looking for “Diagnostics”.
Optimize and Defrag in Windows 11
Traditional SATA hard drives may have given way to much faster solid state drives, but they are still very popular and remain an affordable way to store things like photos, videos, and other non-strenuous types of files. SSDs work a little differently, and while they never need defragmentation (because fragmentation is related to where the data is physically stored on the drive, which isn’t a factor in SSD), sometimes they do need optimization. In fact, we’ve found that the free Defraggler app does a better job of detecting and reducing fragmentation, but not everyone wants to install extra apps when the functionality is built into the operating system. MyDefrag is another great option.
Use HDD Maker Tools
Most major hard drive manufacturers provide free robust tools to monitor hard drive health and performance. The first step to knowing which one to use is, of course, knowing the brand of your hard drive. If you know the brand of your hard drive, you can skip this part. Otherwise, press the Win key, type “device manager” and click when it appears in the search results. In Device Manager, unstack the “Disk Drives” option and note the model number of your hard drive. Then type the model number into Google to bring up up results that will show the hard drive brand. After that, go to the manufacturer’s support page and look for your hard disk utility. To help you out, the following are links to the relevant download pages for some of the biggest brands of hard drives: Each of these tools works a little differently, but most importantly, each has a diagnostic features that allow you to test the integrity of the hard disk.
Windows CHKDSK Tool
The Windows CHKDSK tool is a built-in Windows tool that scans your disk for system errors and bad sectors. It also helps to check the health of the hard drive by showing any errors. It will check and fix issues (if possible) and let you know if there is a larger issue that cannot be fixed. You can use this tool to check disk integrity and fix bad sectors and errors if possible. You can also use chkdsk /f /r to fix bad sectors and recover any readable data if possible. Another option is chkdsk /f /r /x, which unmounts the drive first. Microsoft has a complete list of options to use with chkdsk to check hard drive health.
Final note
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