Check SSD Health Windows 11: Drive Health, Wear and Warnings

SSDs rarely fail with warning noises the way old hard drives did, so it pays to look at the numbers now and then, especially on a laptop that is a few years old or a second-hand PC. You can check SSD health in Windows 11 without installing anything: the Settings app has a Drive health panel for NVMe drives, and PowerShell gives a quick status for every disk. This guide shows where to look, how to read the figures, what Windows cannot tell you, and what to do if a warning appears.

The steps apply to Windows 11 version 24H2, 25H2 and 26H2.

Find out what kind of drive you have

Drive health in Settings only covers some drives, so first check what is inside the PC:

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager and select Performance.
2. Select each Disk. The top right shows the model, and the label under the disk name shows SSD or HDD; on many PCs it also names the connection, such as NVMe. If it does not, the model name searched on the maker’s website tells you.

Our guide on how to check PC specs in Windows 11 covers other ways to see the drive model and size.

Method 1: Drive health in Settings (NVMe SSDs)

Microsoft documents this path for Windows 11:

1. Open Start > Settings > System > Storage.
2. Select Advanced storage settings, then Disks & volumes.
3. Select the drive, then Properties.
4. Look for the Drive health section.

Microsoft’s support article explains the three figures you will see:

Field	What Microsoft says it means	What to watch for
Estimated remaining life	Approximate percentage, based on the manufacturer’s prediction of drive life	A steady fall over months is normal; a sudden drop is not
Available spare	Normalised percentage (0 to 100) of remaining spare capacity	Falling close to the maker’s threshold
Temperature	Temperature of the whole device in degrees Celsius	Consistently high readings under light use

Remaining life is a prediction from the drive’s firmware, mostly based on how much data has been written. Microsoft notes that the value can fall below 0% and that this does not automatically mean the drive has failed. Treat it as a guide to plan ahead, not a countdown.

Important limit: Microsoft says Windows only monitors NVMe SSDs, not SATA SSDs or hard disk drives. If your drive is SATA, or connected through a USB enclosure, Drive health may not appear at all. That does not mean something is wrong.

Critical warnings and what they mean

When an NVMe drive reports a problem, Windows can show a notification and a warning in the same Properties page. Microsoft lists three:

• Spare capacity is low: spare storage capacity is below the manufacturer’s safety threshold.
• Reliability is degraded: reliability has dropped because of significant media-related errors or an internal error.
• Drive is set to read-only: data can still be read, but nothing new can be written.

Microsoft strongly recommends paying attention to these messages and backing up your data first. A read-only drive cannot run Windows normally for long, so copy what matters immediately.

Method 2: PowerShell for any drive

For SATA SSDs and hard drives, PowerShell gives a simpler status:

1. Right-click Start and select Terminal.
2. Run:

Get-PhysicalDisk | Select-Object FriendlyName, MediaType, HealthStatus, OperationalStatus

Each disk shows a HealthStatus of Healthy, Warning or Unhealthy, plus an operational status. Microsoft documents both properties on its Get-PhysicalDisk page. Anything other than Healthy and OK is a reason to back up and investigate.

For more detail, open Terminal (Admin) and run:

Get-PhysicalDisk | Get-StorageReliabilityCounter | Select-Object DeviceId, Wear, Temperature, ReadErrorsTotal, WriteErrorsTotal

Get-StorageReliabilityCounter returns counters such as wear and errors where the drive reports them. Many drives leave some fields empty, so a blank value is not a fault.

Why the old wmic tip no longer works

Older guides tell you to run wmic diskdrive get status. Microsoft’s notes for Windows 11 version 26H2 state that the Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC) has been removed from Windows 11 version 24H2 and above and is no longer available as an optional feature. Use the PowerShell commands above instead.

Third-party and maker tools

SSD makers publish their own utilities that read the drive’s SMART data and can update firmware. If you want a second opinion, use the tool from the company that made your drive, downloaded from its own website. Avoid “PC optimiser” bundles that promise to repair or speed up SSDs; there is nothing for them to repair.

Keep the SSD healthy

• Leave Optimize Drives on its schedule. Windows sends TRIM commands to SSDs instead of defragmenting them. Search for Defragment and Optimize Drives to see the schedule; our SSD optimization guide explains the settings.
• Keep free space. A nearly full SSD is slower and wears more evenly with room to spare. Windows 11 storage settings and Storage Sense help clear junk.
• Watch heat. In a thin laptop under constant load, SSD temperature rises; see Windows 11 laptop overheating.
• Install firmware updates from the PC or drive maker when they are offered.

What to do if the drive looks unhealthy

1. Back up immediately. Copy personal files to an external drive or cloud storage; Windows Backup or a plain copy is fine. See transfer files to a new PC for methods that also work as a backup.
2. Note the warning and the model, and check the warranty with the PC or drive maker.
3. Replace the drive and reinstall or restore Windows. Our clone Windows 11 to SSD checklist and clean install guide cover both routes.

If the drive is not detected at all, or disappears at random, start with Windows 11 SSD not detected. If the PC is slow with the disk at 100%, that is usually software, not wear; see Windows 11 disk usage 100%.