Check Health SSD: How to Monitor Solid-State Drive Health in Windows

Windows provides several ways to check the health of your solid-state drive (SSD). The question remains whether it's possible to check SSD health using only the tools that come with the Windows operating system. In this article, we'll explore what Windows can tell you about SSD health and how to monitor your SSDs' condition.

The major vendors, such as Intel and Samsung, offer their own utilities for retrieving SSD health information. Western Digital's SSD dashboard tool displays information for two Western Digital disks installed on the system but doesn't acknowledge that I have an Intel SSD installed. My system contains three physical disks, which is why it's essential to note that these utilities are proprietary.

The Western Digital SSD dashboard tool shows that my selected disk has 98% of its life remaining. You can see what this software looks like in Figure 1.

'Figure 1: Western Digital SSD Dashboard Tool'

Western Digital offers a free SSD dashboard tool that displays health, performance, and diagnostic data for Western Digital disks. While proprietary in nature, this software is designed to monitor an SSD's health.

For now, the best option for evaluating an SSD's remaining lifespan is to use the software supplied by the SSD manufacturer. Unfortunately, when an SSD does eventually fail, it often occurs without warning (although there may be subtle signs of an impending failure).

This raises the question of how best to check an SSD's health and predict its remaining longevity. After all, the cells within an SSD can only endure so many write operations before they wear out and stop working. Although I use solid-state drives heavily in my own environment, SSDs have always made me a little nervous.

In conclusion, while Windows provides some tools to check SSD health, it's recommended to use proprietary software from the manufacturer for a more accurate assessment of your SSD's condition. By doing so, you'll be able to monitor its health and predict its remaining lifespan, ensuring that your data remains safe and accessible.

Check health ssd