- #WINDOWS HARD DRIVE SMART UTILITY HOW TO#
- #WINDOWS HARD DRIVE SMART UTILITY TRIAL#
- #WINDOWS HARD DRIVE SMART UTILITY WINDOWS 7#
- #WINDOWS HARD DRIVE SMART UTILITY PROFESSIONAL#
Now you know how to check your hard drive's health, you may want to check out our guide on cloud storage vs external hard disk drive to see if ditching your drive may be the better option.
#WINDOWS HARD DRIVE SMART UTILITY TRIAL#
Instead, you're going to need to clone your drive, using a program such as EaseUS Todo Backup, which has a free version for Windows (opens in new tab) or a paid version with a free trial for macOS users (opens in new tab). However, if you have any programs installed or system info you'd like to be brought across, this is likely to be left out if you choose this method.
The easiest way to do this would be to simply copy/paste or drag everything from the disk to the second one, which is the best method if your disk only contains media files such as songs or movies. It's also worth checking whether your data has already been backed up in the cloud, since Windows' OneDrive and macOS' iCloud both offer these services, which you may not have realized were turned on.Īlternatively, if your connection isn't up to the task, or if you're racing against time before meltdown occurs, you may want to copy or clone your disk's contents to another drive. The easiest way to do this may be by using a cloud storage service, since this requires no additional hardware and is relatively simple. If, after running checks, you discover your drive is dying, what do you do? Well, the first thing you'll want to consider is how to backup all your data.
If you'd prefer to go first-party, it's worth seeing if your disk manufacturer has its own tool, such as Western Digital's Drive Utilities (opens in new tab), or Seagate's handy SeaTools (opens in new tab). That's where standalone programs come in handy, which can offer more extensive info.įor Windows, CrystalDiskInfo (opens in new tab) is a free tool that can delve a bit deeper into your disk's status, while macOS users should take a look at DriveDX (opens in new tab), which costs $19.99 but comes with a free trial. tool is quick and easy, it doesn't do much beyond telling you whether your disk is fine or about to die. Note: This information won't appear if you're running a post-2015 machine with an SSD installed. status" section in the bottom-left, or by clicking the " i" icon in the top-right. Click the drive you want to check, and its status will read either " Verified" or " Failing" in the " S.M.A.R.T. In a DOS box, entering smartctl -a sda (or sdb, sdc, or the like) will tell you everything you need to know about your hard drive’s SMART status–if you can read the sometimes overlapping information.To do this on macOS, open the Disk Utility tool by going to Applications, then Utilities. If you love the command line, SMART Monitoring Tools might be for you. Several capable utilities allow you to view the information.
#WINDOWS HARD DRIVE SMART UTILITY WINDOWS 7#
Unfortunately, although many BIOSs will relay the basic “Hey, I’m okay (or not)” information to you when you boot the PC, Windows 7 doesn’t provide a way to access the details. Today’s hard drives have a self-analysis feature that keeps tabs on the drive’s health. SMART (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology)
#WINDOWS HARD DRIVE SMART UTILITY PROFESSIONAL#
My other favorite freebie is Easeus Partition Manager Home: It’s professional in appearance and has all the features I generally need. Offering an extremely small footprint and very quick boots, Partition Logic seems to work fine, at least with internal IDE drives. You need to visit the command prompt twice during the boot process, but I have on occasion found that GParted Live boots when the Parted Magic disc will not–and vice versa. If you don’t need memory testing, or if you just want an alternative Linux partitioning boot disc, GParted Live is a slightly lighter-weight boot disc that also supports booting from a USB flash drive or an external hard drive.