What are the symptoms of a bad SSD/HDD? How can I test and resolve?

If the computer is unable to detect the drive, you experience random freezing/crashes/blue screens, then you may have a bad SSD/HDD. Please follow the following steps for additional diagnostic testing.

There are 2 main ways that you can run CHKDSK (check disk) to check your hard drive, external drives, and any SSDs you may have.

Run CHKDSK from File Explorer

The easiest way to check for hard drive errors is to run the Error Checking tool via File Explorer. Error Checking is the user interface for the CHKDSK command in Command Prompt.

Here’s how to run CHKDSK from File Explorer on Windows 10:

1. Open File Explorer and select This PC. Right-click the drive containing Windows OS (usually C:) and select Properties

2. Navigate to the Tools tab and click Check.

3. If no errors are found, a prompt tells you: You don’t need to scan this drive. If you want to scan the drive anyway, click Scan drive.

4. When CHKDSK is finished, click Show Details to view any errors that were repaired, or click Close to close the window.

Run CHKDSK from Command Prompt

You can run CHKDSK from the Command Prompt. Follow these instructions for entering the CHKDSK command and its unique parameters to tell your Windows operating system exactly what to do and where.

Here’s how to run CHKDSK from Command Prompt on Windows:

1. Type cmd (Command Prompt) in the Start menu search bar, then click Run as administrator.

2. Type chkdsk and hit Enter. CHKDSK will scan for drive errors and let you know if it found any you should repair, but it won’t try to fix them without a command.