Summary: A solid-state drive (SSD) is a new generation of computer storage devices. Although SSDs can significantly enhance computer performance due to their rapid read access times and high data transfer speeds. However, any temperature that exceeds the temperature limit(between 20 and 60 degrees Celsius) may cause SSD performance to degrade. So it becomes essential to check SSD health & temperature in Windows 10/11, which affects its lifespan to a certain extent.
Most SSD manufacturers provide their company-developed software to configure and monitor the health of the SSD. For example, Kingston offers a utility called SSD Manager that lets you change various SSD settings, monitor SSD health, and find important information about your SSD. Besides, many third-party apps can monitor SSD health, performance, and temperature.
The good news is that Windows 10 provides (currently only available in Windows 10 Insider build number 20226 and later) the ability to view information about SSDs. The new feature lets you view SSD health, available spare, and current temperature. This means you don’t need to install additional software to monitor the health of your SSD, as Windows 10 will also alert users when an SSD is about to fail or its health has deteriorated to a certain level.
How does Windows Calculate the Remaining Life of an SSD?
Microsoft states that Windows calculates the estimated remaining lifespan of SSDs based on the approximate percentage of the manufacturer’s expected drive life that has been used. However, this calculation may not be precise. It’s important to keep in mind that if Windows 10 shows an SSD’s estimated remaining life as 0%, it doesn’t necessarily indicate that the SSD has malfunctioned or is near failure. This is the only indication that the drive has completed the write/erase cycles predicted by the manufacturer.
However, this is a new feature and is currently only available to users of beta Windows 10 Insider builds (20226 and later). To check the build number of your Windows 10, type winver.exe in the taskbar search and press Enter key from the keyboard.
Check SSD Health & Temperature in Windows 11
Windows 11, unlike Windows 10, has an in-built system for monitoring hard drive health, eliminating the need for external tools. It displays the current health status as a percentage and alerts you in case of any issues with a connected hard drive.
- Press Win + I to open the Settings app.
- Navigate to System > Storage.
- In the More storage settings section, click on the Manage Disks and Volumes option.
- Then you will see the number of drives and partitions on your PC. Click on the hard drive or SSD entry and click the Properties button. If you have multiple SSDs on your computer, please scroll down the page to see all entries.
- The Drive health section displays the Estimated remaining life of the SSD, Available spare, and current SSD Temperature in degrees Celsius.
Check SSD Health & Temperature in Windows 10/11
CHKDSK is a utility that scans and repairs corrupted files on your hard drive, checks for bad sectors and attempts to fix them. It also provides an assessment of the hard drive’s health after scanning. To repair and check the health of your hard drive(s) using CHKDSK, follow these steps:
- Open Command Prompt with administrative privileges.
- Then in the CMD window, enter the following command:
Chkdsk C: /f /r /x - The CHKDSK utility will prompt you to schedule it for the next reboot, just enter Y to confirm.
- Restart your computer and the CHKDSK utility will run and scan your hard drive upon reboot. Note that this process may take several hours, depending on the size of your hard drive.
- Once the scan completes, you should be able to see your hard drive’s health.
Third-party SSD Monitoring Software
There are many tools, both paid and free, available to assess the health of your SSD. One recommended option is Crystal Disk Mark. To use it, simply download and install the app on your PC, then run it to obtain the current state of your SSD.
If the app indicates your SSD is in Good health, you have nothing to worry about. In some cases, the SSD’s health status is expressed as a percentage, as well as the amount of data written to it. While the app provides additional technical information, it may not be useful unless you have a specific need for it.
SSD Temperature FAQs
What is SSD’s optimum operating temperature?
The optimum working temperature of SSDs is between 0°C and 60°C. Once the temperature exceeds the optimum working temperature, the storage device may not only fail to work but also reach the end of its life.
What happens if the SSD overheats?
Once the temperature of the SSD exceeds 70°C for a long time, irreversible damage will occur, which will not only affect the read and write speed but also cause freezes, crashes, and even data loss over time.
