How can I find out the status of a hard drive (HDD) or SSD? How to find out information on an SSD and test it using SSD-Z

Not long ago I bought myself a solid-state hard drive on Aliexpress, in other words, an SSD, and even . The disk arrived, was installed and worked great for several months. But lately I began to notice that the disk began to “choke” often, and sometimes I just had to ROUGHly turn off the laptop. Doubt crept in: was my Chinese “friend” screwed up? How to check SSD functionality?

At the beginning I began to sin on Ubuntu, maybe it started to glitch? I often install new programs, and although Linux is much more stable in this regard than Windows, it can also be ruined.

And so yesterday I decided to reinstall the system so that I would have time. Decided . But that was not the case! After the first installation, I was unable to access my home folder, which is encrypted.

Although I did not scan (perhaps in vain) to the end, it was clear that in general all the cells were working perfectly. But I didn’t calm down and downloaded another program - HDDScan, and scanned it for her.

And this program showed that my first sector was killed! Just one, could it cause such problems? Or is this program only suitable for regular HDDs? I don't know yet, but I know what I will do.

Since this is the first sector, when marking the disk, I will leave an unmarked area at the beginning so that this sector does not work. If this doesn't help, then I don't know what to do.

How to check SSD for errors in Linux?

In Linux, as I understand it, there is only a console program for this purpose (although maybe I was looking poorly), everything is checked like this:

Sudo badblocks -v /dev/sdc > ~/test.list

The badblocks utility will check the disk for bad sectors and produce a report in the test.list file, which will appear in the home directory. Yes, it’s not very clear, but you can still check it. Maybe you know better programs?

I will try to install Linux 15.04 on this SSD disk, I will test both the new Ubuntu (I haven’t tried installing it yet) and the disk at the same time. I’ll write down in the comments what came out of all this...

Many articles and guides have already been written about vim, translations of its documentation are also in Russian, it is discussed on forums and LUGs. I’m in this article...

Well, friend, you got it! The disk on which the Windows system is installed is locked, are you in a panic and don’t know what to do? There is a banner hanging in the middle of the screen...

10 comments

Today I tried to install Ubuntu 15.04 on this SSD disk, leaving the initial area of ​​the disk unallocated - the installation froze.

I didn’t continue and decided to install Windows 7 - everything was installed, although I don’t know yet whether it will work without failures.

I decided to do this: I inserted an SSD with Windows 7 into the laptop, and installed Linux on the external HDD. Now I can work in Windows if necessary, but I can boot into Linux from an external drive, so that everything is simple with Linux.

I had some strange problem with the disk (only it was a simple disk), in lninuch it wrote that it was restarting something there, although it was working. In Windows it just started getting really stupid and crawled furiously across the disk. Although everywhere it showed that everything was fine with the disk.
It turned out that I needed to switch to the IDE controller in the BIOS, instead of some strange new one, and everything became okay.

And this happens, but SSD drives are still very different from regular ones and the technology is not yet well developed, which is why there are problems, especially on Chinese ones. But we need something cheaper!

I personally have been using an SSD as a system drive for about six months now. I had a Sony VAIO laptop with a regular hard drive. Then I installed my SSD there. I’m running Ubuntu 14.04.3; rebooting, if necessary, takes 11-12 seconds - I personally measured it with a stopwatch :-) In the laptop, instead of a drive, there is an additional 1TB hard drive (mount point home directory) .
I use BTRFS everywhere. Previously I used Ext4. I didn't notice any glitches.
Oh yes! I have an SD card from Kingston for 120 gigs. Mounted as root.

Checking an SSD disk using utilities is a universal method that performs several tasks at once.

• First – checking the drive for errors.
• Second – monitoring the operational life of the device.

The presence and periodic use of such programs for the owner of an SSD drive is not only desirable, but also necessary. After all, the resources of these components of modern PCs and laptops are limited compared to HDDs, and the danger of data loss is higher.

Although these disadvantages are fully compensated by a significant number of advantages from using SSDs, due to the difference in their design from standard hard drives.

Features of using SSD drives

SSD drives are solid-state, non-volatile drives whose operating principle is similar to that of flash memory - SD and microSD cards, USB flash drives and other storage media. Such devices have no moving parts, and use a DDR DRAM chip to transmit data.

Parallel recording of information simultaneously onto several memory elements and the absence of the need to move the heads that read information (typical of HDDs) allows you to increase the speed of the process several times. And, if the average read speed of a modern hard drive is about 60 MB/s, even an average SSD drive can deliver 4-5 times higher performance. When recording data, the excess may be smaller, but the process is still much faster.

Rice. 1. Comparison of read and write speeds of SSD and HDD disks.

Loading speed is of particular importance for those computers on which several resource-intensive applications are installed. In this case, only the Windows system boots up within 15–20 s for a solid-state drive and from 30 to 60 s for a hard drive. The same speed improvement occurs in the process of launching programs and recording data.

Other advantages of using SSD drives include:

• resistance to shocks and falls. A parameter that is important for laptops, the hard drives of which often fail due to mechanical damage;
• compactness - many disks are not much larger in size than a mobile phone battery, others have the dimensions of a memory stick;
• extended temperature range of disk operation;
• minimal energy consumption and no noise during operation.

Rice. 2. Comparison of HDD sizes, standard SSD and mSATA drive.

However, the operation of SSDs also comes with certain disadvantages. These include the relatively high cost of the drive, although as the capacity increases, the price-to-volume ratio becomes smaller. The second important disadvantage is the limited resource of SSD drives, which is why it is recommended to check them periodically.

Drive diagnostics

The main task of checking SSD disks is to diagnose its condition and provide information about the presence of errors, resource and expected operational life. This allows the user to know in advance about future problems with the drive, leading to unpredictable loss of information. In addition, based on the results of the check, you can plan the financial costs of purchasing a new SSD drive, the cost of which may not allow you to quickly find such an amount if the problem arose unexpectedly.

In addition, checking the drive does not take much time and does not even require the purchase of expensive software. Utilities can be downloaded online for free or purchased for an amount not exceeding the cost of a standard antivirus program. While it is impossible to recover lost information from SSDs, unlike hard drives.

The best utilities for checking SSD drives

To check the status of the hard drive, drive manufacturers and third-party developers have already released dozens of applications. Most of them are free or shareware, that is, requiring payment only some time after the start of use. Their effectiveness is almost the same, but the differences lie in ease of use and functionality.

SSD Life

The SSD Life utility is one of the simplest software tools for working with solid-state drives. With its help, you can diagnose the disk and display its resource indicators as a percentage.

The application has 3 versions - one portable and two that require installation (free and advanced paid SSD Life Pro). The installed programs are distinguished by the ability to work in the background, displaying the status of the drive in real time. Among the utility's functions, it is worth paying attention to the possibility of automatic diagnostics every 4 hours and saving the results of previous checks.

Rice. 3. SSD Life main window when checking new and old SSD.

CrystalDiskInfo

Another free program for monitoring the status of an SSD checks the read and write speed of the drive, monitors its temperature and resource. In addition, CrystalDiskInfo supports S.M.A.R.T technology for assessing the health of disks and, like SSDLife, is available in several versions - portable and installed on a computer.

The second version constantly monitors the operation of the drive, informing the user when bad sectors and other errors are detected. But the portable version does not require installation and can be used both on someone else’s and on a work PC.

Rice. 4. Scan a 64GB SSD using the CrystalDiskInfo application.

DiskCheckup

The process of checking a solid-state drive can also be carried out using a simple DiscCheckup program. Its task is to determine the speed and performance of the drive (and at the same time all that are installed on the computer, including both SSD and HDD). Among the information displayed on the screen you can find:

• number of errors;
• disk temperature;
• read and write speed characteristics.

Rice. 5. Checking disks using the DiscCheckup utility.

SSD Ready

When checking the status of your SSD, you can use the SSDReady application, which only works with solid-state drives. The result of the check is an estimate of the expected operating time of the device based on the collected statistics on writing and reading data. The program runs in the background and requires virtually no resources.

Rice. 6. SSDReady application.

Hard Disk Sentinel

A feature of the Hard Disk Sentinel application, designed to monitor hard drives, is to monitor performance degradation or exceed the permissible temperature level and report this to the user. The application constantly checks the information transfer speed, temperature conditions and other parameters. Among its features:

• work with SSD drives, IDE and SATA drives, and even USB drives;
• displaying information about the current and minimum temperature;
• indication of the number of errors and disk operating hours in hours;
• indication of not only the current, but also the maximum possible information transfer mode for the disk.

Rice. 7. Working with the Hard Disk Sentinel program.

HDDScan

The freely available HDDScan program allows you to diagnose hard drives of any type, check them for errors and monitor the “health” of the drives. The utility works in real time and, if necessary, displays a detailed report on the status of the disk, which can be saved for future use.

Rice. 8. HDDScan program report.

SSD Tweaker

The free SSD Tweaker application is easy to use and allows the user not only to monitor the status of solid-state drives, but also to disable unnecessary operations in the operating system that reduce the service life of the disk. For example, such as the Windows Indexing and Defragmentation Service. Settings can be configured manually or automatically.

Rice. 9. Working window of the SSD Tweaker program.

HD Tune

The HD Tune application is available in several versions - a free version and a paid HD Tune Pro. The first provides testing of the status of hard drives (including SSDs) and memory cards. The shareware utility, for which you will have to pay $38, has expanded functionality, allowing you to control almost all disk parameters and conduct a number of additional tests.

Rice. 10. Diagnostics using HD Tune Pro.

Regardless of the program you choose to diagnose your SSD drive, at least one of them must be installed on your computer (or run from time to time if it is impossible to install on a working PC).

At the same time, if the drive does not contain too important information, the frequency of checking can be changed by setting, for example, diagnostics not every 4 hours, but once a day. Moreover, despite the greater level of reliability of HDDs, using most of the same applications you can periodically monitor their condition, increasing the security of data storage.

Video instructions for checking an SSD drive

SSD disk check: the best utilities for diagnosing and improving performance

Hi all! I think it’s no secret that one of the most important components inside your computer or laptop is the drive that contains the operating system. A completely logical consequence is the question of how to perform a hard drive (or SSD, if the computer is newer) speed test.

If your operating system is installed on a slow hard drive, then it doesn’t matter how powerful your central processor or RAM is - Windows itself and installed programs will start very reluctantly and you won’t be able to enjoy full multitasking.

In the age of the Internet, there are quite a lot of publications that will tell you about almost any drive model on sale. In addition, there are a huge number of programs for checking the speed of a hard drive, the result of which will be an understanding of what your drive is capable of.

There are many paid utilities, like PCMark or PassMark, that can test the entire system and can often be found in tests from well-known publications. We're going the other way and I'm going to tell you about four free ways to test the speed of your hard drive or SSD.

The real performance of an HDD or SSD in a Windows environment (and not only) is determined not only by the rotation speed of the magnetic disk or the memory of the drive chips, but also by many other important factors. The drive controller, the SATA version on the motherboard, the drivers of the controller itself, the operating mode (ACHI or IDE) - all this affects the performance of the disk subsystem (even the CPU or RAM can affect performance)

Method 1: CrystalDiskMark is our main tool

Probably the most popular tool for testing hard drive speed is CrystalDiskMark. Almost no drive testing is complete without this utility - this situation will help you compare your results and draw the right conclusions. A big plus is the program’s ability to test not only HDD/SSD, but also flash drives and other storage media.

The application has both a distribution and a portable version that does not require installation. You can download it as usual on the official website (I, as always, recommend portable).

CrystalDiskMark is incredibly easy to use. We launch the utility, select the size of the test block (in the picture below we chose 1 GB), the number of test repetitions (I chose 5 - the more repetitions, the more accurate the result) and the drive itself. We press the “all” button and wait until the program runs all the tests (by the way, you can run a separate test for each mode).

In the screenshot on the left is the SSD speed test, and on the right is the HDD. Just so you know how big the difference is between them and what kind of performance gain you will get by replacing just one component in the system

Method 2. CrystalDiskInfo - detailed information about the HDD/SSD drive

At the very beginning of the note, I already wrote that the speed test of a hard drive or SSD will not be entirely correct if we do not find out the factors affecting the performance of the disk subsystem. The CrystalDiskInfo utility will tell you a lot of interesting things about your drive, but we are interested in just one nuance - download the application from the official website and run it.

Pay attention to the line “Transfer mode”, in the picture below I have it (SATA/600 | SATA/600). These parameters must match, i.e. By connecting the SSD drive to the SATA/300 port (this is the SATA II standard), we will get a maximum exchange speed with the disk of 300 MB, and if we look at the performance test in the first method, we see that the maximum read speed was far beyond 300...

By connecting such a high-speed drive to a SATA or SATA II port, its performance will simply be limited by the performance of the controller (with classic HDDs it is not so critical, since even SATA capabilities are abundant)

In general, CrystalDiskInfo can tell you about the temperature, operating time of the drive and many other useful indicators. For owners of classic HDDs, the Reallocate Sector item will be useful - thanks to it you can predict the failure of the device

Method 3. AS SSD Benchmark - a healthy competitor to CrystalDisk from the Germans

The Germans know how to make not only films for adults, but also excellent utilities for testing the speed of a hard drive or SSD. In this case, I want to introduce you to the AS SSD Benchmark application, the functionality of which is very similar to CrystalDiskMark, but unlike it, it also shows data access time (and in general there are still minor differences).

You can download it from the official website (it’s in German, the download link is at the end of the page), the application itself is in English (many bloggers have a version exclusively in German)

The utility is portable and does not require installation, just run the application, select the required tests and press START, just like in the first method. On the left is my home SSD, on the right is the classic HDD.

Please note that in the TOOLS menu there are a couple of interesting tests that can predict the performance of the drive when copying ISO files, programs or various toys - CrystalDiskMark does not have such functionality

Method 4. HD Tune is a good tool with a visual graph

HD Tune is most likely the most famous application for testing hard drive speed, but it is in last place in today's ranking for a reason. The fact is that the free version of HD Tune has not been updated since February 2008... however, everything still works in 2k17 on the latest Windows 10. As always, you can download it from the official website (unfortunately there is no portable version)

After passing the test, we will have access to a visual reading graph (along with the maximum and minimum values, as well as the speed of data access). In general, the information is useful, but there is no way to test the disk writing speed, which is a little disappointing...

Due to its antiquities the application may not correctly detect modern drives, but this does not affect the test results in any way

Conclusion about hard drive speed testing programs

It's time to draw conclusions. We performed a hard drive or SSD speed test using four different programs (or rather, there are only three testing applications, and one more utility to make sure that the tests will be objective).

In reality, programs that allow you to check the speed of a hard drive are many times faster, but I decided to introduce you to the leaders of this niche... but if you have anything to add, I’m waiting for you in the comments.

The solid-state drive has a fairly long service life thanks to wear-leveling technologies and reserving a certain space for the needs of the controller. However, during long-term use, in order to avoid data loss, it is necessary to periodically assess the performance of the disk. This is also true in cases where you need to check a used SSD after purchasing it.

Checking the status of a solid-state drive is performed using special utilities that work based on S.M.A.R.T data. In turn, this abbreviation stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology and translated from English means self-monitoring, analysis and reporting technology. It contains many attributes, but here greater emphasis will be placed on parameters characterizing the wear and service life of the SSD.

If the SSD has been in use, make sure that it is detected in the BIOS and directly by the system itself after connecting it to the computer.

Method 1: SSDlife Pro

SSDlife Pro is a popular utility for assessing the health of solid-state drives.

Erase Fail Count shows the number of unsuccessful attempts to clear memory cells. Essentially, this indicates the presence of broken blocks. The higher this value, the higher the likelihood that the disk will soon become inoperable.

Unexpected Power Loss Count– parameter showing the number of sudden power outages. Is important because NAND memory is vulnerable to such phenomena. If a high value is detected, it is recommended to check all connections between the board and the drive, and then retest. If the number does not change, the SSD most likely needs to be replaced.

Initial Bad Blocks Count displays the number of failed cells, therefore it is a critical parameter on which the further performance of the disk depends. Here it is recommended to look at the change in value over time. If the value remains unchanged, then most likely everything is fine with the SSD.

For some drive models, the parameter may appear SSD Life Left, which shows the remaining resource as a percentage. The lower the value, the worse the condition of the SSD. The disadvantage of the program is that viewing S.M.A.R.T. available only in the paid Pro version.

Method 2: CrystalDiskInfo

Method 3: HDDScan

HDDScan is a program that is designed to test drives for functionality.

If any parameter exceeds the permissible value, its status will be marked with "Attention".

Method 4: SSDRready

SSDReady is a software tool that is designed to estimate the operating time of SSDs.

Method 5: SanDisk SSD Dashboard

Unlike the software discussed above, SanDisk SSD Dashboard is a proprietary Russian-language utility designed to work with solid-state drives from the manufacturer of the same name.

Conclusion

Thus, all the methods discussed are suitable for assessing the overall performance of an SSD. In most cases, you will have to deal with the SMART data of the disks. To accurately assess the performance and remaining life of a drive, it is better to use proprietary software from the manufacturer, which has the appropriate functions.

Solid-state drives (SSDs) have become a fixture in our lives. Granting the user many advantages compared to traditional HDDs (higher speed of reading and writing information, quiet operation, low power consumption and high resistance to mechanical damage), they are, however, not without a number of disadvantages (for example, shorter operating time compared to from HDD). Accordingly, their condition must be monitored from time to time in order to timely track negative changes in their functionality. In this material I will tell you how to check an SSD disk for errors, how tools will help us find out its performance and how to use them.

If you are wondering about checking an SSD disk for errors and performance, it means that a situation may have arisen in which your SSD has stopped functioning normally. This is primarily due to the fact that SSD ( Solid State Drive - solid state drive) allows you to write information to yourself a limited number of times (the resource of competitors SSDs - HDDs in this regard is not limited). Typically, manufacturers provide a warranty on their SSD drives for a period of 3 years (or for the volume of recorded data of 35 terabytes of data, which is approximately equal to 20 gigabytes per day). Those who actively use their SSD drive (on various 24/7 servers, etc.) may experience faster failure of SSD devices.

Well, those users who work with their PC in normal, “household” mode can enjoy the fast operation of their SSD for 5 years or more. In the last article, I described in detail who I recommend setting up the disk for this OS.

How to check an SSD disk for errors and performance - list of programs

If you do not need to know the performance of the SSD drive, then you should use the functionality of the appropriate programs that will allow you to test the ssd for errors. Below I will list these programs and give their corresponding characteristics:

CrystalDiskInfo program

It is a free utility that will check the read-write speed of your disk, displays its overall health, temperature, supports S.M.A.R.T (hard disk health assessment technology) and much more. This CrystalDiskInfo program has two main versions (installable and portable), and in the case of the installed version, you can monitor the status of your disks in real time using the program icon in the system tray. If the pressing question is how to check an ssd for bad sectors, then the CrystalDiskInfo program will effectively help you with this.

1. To use the program, download it, install it and run it.
2. The program will scan your hard drive to assess its condition, errors, etc., and then give you the result.
3. All main actions are concentrated in the “Service” tab of the main menu (in particular, if necessary, there you can set the disk rescan function).

SSD Life Program

The SSD Life program can also help us determine the performance and errors of the SSD. This shareware utility is written specifically for working with SSD drives, allowing you to proactively monitor declines in their performance. As in the case of CrystalDiskInfo, this program has two versions - portable (produces a report on the status of the disk immediately upon launch, without additional installation), and installation, which displays the status of the disk in real time so that the user can monitor the situation in advance.

The working window of the program is extremely simple, on it you will see the predicted operating time of your disk, an assessment of its condition, how long it has already worked, and so on. To update report data, use the corresponding keys below.

SSDRready program

SSD diagnostics can also be carried out using the SSDReady program, created specifically to monitor the condition of your SSD drive, estimate its potential operating time and other relevant statistics. It keeps track of the amount of data written and read from the disk every day, requires its permanent work in the background and is a good option for checking the SSD disk for errors and overall performance.

DiskCheckup program

In testing an SSD hard drive for speed and performance, we can also be helped by the DiscCheckup utility, which allows you to monitor the S.M.A.R.T attributes of an individual hard drive. As in the case of the programs described above, this application shows hard drive statistics, allowing you to track the health status of the latter. The functionality of this product is essentially no different from the programs described above.

HDDScan program

HDDScan is a free utility for diagnosing hard drives (RAID, Flash USB, SSDs of interest to us are also supported). This program can be a convenient and handy tool in the question “how to check an SSD for errors”; it searches for errors on the hard drive (bad blocks and sectors), supports demonstrating S.M.A.R.T attributes and changing some HDD parameters (AAM, APM, and so on) . This product can be used to regularly “test the health” of your disk and prevent its degradation; you can avoid losing the files you need by creating appropriate backups when necessary.

Increasing the speed of an SSD hard drive 10 times [video]

The answer to the question of how to test an SSD disk for errors and performance will be the use of a number of special diagnostic programs that I described just above. Most of them have fairly simple functionality, allowing you to monitor the status of your SSD drive in real time and, if necessary, perform additional checks. If you are the proud owner of such disks, then use the functionality of one of the described programs to regularly monitor the condition of your device, this will allow you to timely monitor its condition and protect your files from unwanted losses.