{"id":133402,"date":"2026-07-01T21:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T21:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2026\/07\/01\/i-ran-the-same-ssd-health-check-on-linux-and-windows-only-one-gave-me-the-full-picture\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T21:05:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T21:05:26","slug":"i-ran-the-same-ssd-health-check-on-linux-and-windows-only-one-gave-me-the-full-picture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2026\/07\/01\/i-ran-the-same-ssd-health-check-on-linux-and-windows-only-one-gave-me-the-full-picture\/","title":{"rendered":"I ran the same SSD health check on Linux and Windows\u2014only one gave me the full picture"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As of writing, my NVMe SSD is about 4 years outdated\u2014sufficiently old to make me take into consideration changing it. That mentioned, with sky-high storage prices<\/a> proper now, a part of me desires to carry off till the market settles down. The smart transfer in that state of affairs is to verify whether or not your drive actually wants changing\u2014however I didn\u2019t anticipate I\u2019d have to change working techniques simply to seek out the solutions I used to be on the lookout for.<\/p>\n

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\n Home windows mentioned my SSD was wholesome
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\n Nevertheless it felt\u2014as the children are calling it nowadays\u2014sus
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Home windows gives very primary instruments for monitoring SSD health<\/a>. Usually, you\u2019d open the terminal and run the next command:<\/p>\n

Get-PhysicalDisk | Choose FriendlyName, MediaType, HealthStatus, OperationalStatus, Measurement\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
Nevertheless, it solely tells you whether or not your storage system is wholesome or not. That\u2019s helpful, but it surely felt a bit too binary for my liking. I needed to know how<\/em> wholesome it was. It was much less of a qualitative query and extra of a quantitative one.<\/p>\n
Sadly, none of Home windows\u2019 built-in instruments had that reply, so I put in CrystalDiskInfo\u2014which, frankly, I ought to have been working years in the past. The distinction in info density was vital. Past the essential \u201cWholesome\u201d label, it confirmed the drive\u2019s full S.M.A.R.T. knowledge: whole knowledge written, whole knowledge learn, power-on hours, out there spare capability, and\u2014most significantly for my functions\u2014a \u201cProportion Used\u201d determine that displays endurance consumption based mostly on the producer\u2019s TBW (terabytes written) score.<\/p>\n
\n            Why the info felt worrisome
\n    <\/h3>\n
My Essential P3 500GB NVMe drive\u2014the one holding my Home windows set up\u2014presently exhibits a well being score of 77%. On condition that I\u2019ve been utilizing it for roughly 4 years, the tough math suggests I\u2019ve nonetheless received one other 12 months or 12 months and a half earlier than it drops under 70%\u2014a degree the place you must truly begin fascinated with a alternative.<\/p>\n
However that assumes SSD put on follows a linear sample. What if it doesn\u2019t? What if degradation accelerates?<\/p>\n
A drive doesn\u2019t all the time fail predictably. It will probably report 100% health one day and die the next<\/a>. That\u2019s why uncooked well being percentages solely inform a part of the story. You additionally want to take a look at the errors accumulating beneath.<\/p>\n
And whereas my drive confirmed zero essential warnings, CrystalDiskInfo surfaced one quantity that stored bothering me: the \u201cVariety of Error Info Log Entries\u201d was sitting at 6,605. Nevertheless, it didn\u2019t inform me what these errors truly had been. At that time, I had virtually hit the ceiling of what Home windows-based instruments might inform me.<\/p>\n
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\n                                                                                            \"CrystalDiskInfo\n        <\/picture>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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The picture above exhibits the rely at 6,610. It is because I took the picture after I restarted Home windows, which apparently raised the error rely.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n
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\n                        \"The<\/p>\n
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Linux-Windows dual-boot setup<\/a>, so after hitting a useless finish on Home windows, I booted into Linux to see if I might discover some solutions there.<\/p>\n
On Linux, there\u2019s a command-line utility known as nvme-cli constructed particularly for inspecting NVMe drives. It talks to the NVMe protocol instantly, which implies it might pull diagnostic knowledge that generic S.M.A.R.T. instruments both can\u2019t entry or don\u2019t expose clearly.<\/p>\n
I began with:<\/p>\n
sudo nvme smart-log \/dev\/nvme0\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
This pulled the complete S.M.A.R.T. log straight from the drive controller and confirmed what CrystalDiskInfo had proven\u2014however with extra element. Accessible spare was at 100%, media errors had been 0, the proportion used was 23%, and the error log entry rely was 6,605\u2014the identical quantity Home windows confirmed.<\/p>\n
However this time, I might truly examine what these errors had been with:<\/p>\n
sudo nvme error-log \/dev\/nvme0\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
The log returned 16 entries. Entry 0\u2014the one accounting for all 6,605 flagged errors\u2014had a standing area of 0x2002<\/strong>, which decodes to Invalid Field in Command<\/em><\/a>: a reserved code worth or an unsupported worth in an outlined area.<\/p>\n
Entries 1 via 15, in the meantime, all confirmed an error rely of 0 and \u201cProfitable Completion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Translated into plain English, my SSD was effective. There have been no media errors, no knowledge integrity points, and no indicators of bodily NAND failure. The \u201cerrors\u201d weren\u2019t indicators of damage\u2014they had been simply invalid instructions logged sooner or later throughout regular operation.<\/p>\n
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\n                        It’s also possible to take a look at your NVMe SSDs for errors
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\n            The self-test Home windows by no means supplied me
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The nvme-cli utility can do extra than simply learn well being knowledge\u2014it might additionally run built-in diagnostic exams on the drive itself. So I ran a brief self-test utilizing:<\/p>\n
sudo nvme device-self-test \/dev\/nvme0 -s 1\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
Then I checked the outcomes with:<\/p>\n
sudo nvme self-test-log \/dev\/nvme0\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
The take a look at got here again clear: Operation Consequence: 0, which implies the drive handed with out detecting any inside points.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\tYou are testing your PC performance wrong\u2014here is the right way
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Artificial benchmarks are effective, however real-world benchmarks are a lot better. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n
\n            You don\u2019t essentially want to put in Linux to run this software
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In case you\u2019re on Home windows and don\u2019t run a dual-boot setup like I do, you possibly can nonetheless use nvme-cli with out putting in Linux.<\/p>\n
The best methodology is to create a bootable USB with Ubuntu\u2014or any Linux distro you favor\u2014plug it into your PC, and boot into the reside setting. That provides you a full Linux session working instantly from the USB, with out touching your present Home windows set up. From there, you possibly can set up and use nvme-cli to examine your SSD\u2019s well being, run self-tests, and verify error logs. When you\u2019re accomplished, simply reboot again into Home windows as standard.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n