How Are Your Hard Drives?
This tip will work in Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10
Almost all hard drives these days have a feature called SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) which monitors your hard drive(s) for errors. Periodically checking your SMART data is kind of like looking into a hard drive crystal ball. You can find out if your hard drive(s) are at increased risk for imminent failure. Never fear, SMART Is here.
There are dozens of programs you can download to check your hard drive(s) SMART DATA. By why bother downloading a 3rd-party app when Windows has a built in feature that lets you check your drive’s SMART data almost instantly.
All you need to do is open a Command Prompt with Admin privileges.
In Windows 7 open the start menu, type CMD into the start menu search. When CMD appears at the top of the menu, right-click and choose “Run as Administrator”.
In Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, right-click the start button and chose “Command Prompt (Admin)”.
In the Admin Command Prompt enter the following command:
WMIC DISKDRIVE GET MODEL,STATUS
And press Enter.
Make sure you type the command exactly as it’s shown above – or better yet, copy & paste it.
My drives are OK – hope yours are too. If you get error messages or codes, be sure to look them up online. If your drive or drives are not OK, make sure your data is backed up on a drive (external) that is OK.
Whew!! I reluctantly followed your instructions holding my breath not knowing what to expect. All of my drives got the “OK.” Thanks once again for sharing knowledge!
What a FANTASTIC Tip
I’ve been worried about one of my XHDs and wished I knew a way to check it
Once again, you’ve come through with a tip to ease my mind.
All my drives are OK
I will be tucking away this tip so I will be able to use this again as there is no way I;ll remember what to type at the Admin command prompt…lol
Thanks so much
Cheer
Susan
In Classic Start Menu, there is no Command Prompt, so what procedure do I need?
Windows key + R to bring up the Run dialog. Then type CMD and press Enter.
This works slick…held my breath until I got the ok. Thank you once again.
Great tip! Thanks!
Like others, I was a little anxious but all is well! Thanks.
Please remind us about this every so often or I surely won’t remember what to do. Save it? Hah. Now where did I put that. I ask.