One of the most important elements of our computer and at the same time most likely to break down over time are the hard drives, whether they are HDDs or SSDs. If we keep very important elements of both personal and work value in them, it is important that we keep track of their status, and in this way, try to prevent any possible failure, problem or error that may end up affecting their proper functioning. For this we can use a CrystalDiskInfo application, which we are going to talk about next.
Taking care of the health of our hard drives is something fundamental that we must keep in mind to prevent all the information that we store on them from being lost due to any failure that can be prevented beforehand. That is why this free program can be very useful, especially if we have the knowledge to interpret all the information it provides us.
What is CrystalDiskInfo
CrystalDiskInfo is software for Windows that has been specially developed to take care of reading the SMART values stored by our PC’s hard drives, indicating their state of health. In this way, we will be able to know first-hand if the HDD or SSD is working correctly, or if it is not, it may be close to failing for various reasons.
A hard drive can fail for various reasons, and one of the most important can be found in the excessive temperature to which we subject them when we work with the PC, and this is where an application like CrystalDiskInfo can be very useful, since It will offer us a good amount of data in an orderly and efficient way.
And we are talking about a software that is as simple as it is powerful that, once executed, will be in charge of offering us information in real time on details as important as the brand, model, serial number, among other elements, and indicating the state in which it is found. .
How does it work
Once we run the program, its main interface appears where we will find all kinds of detailed information. Among the information that the program shows us, it is worth highlighting:
- Health status: it is responsible for making an average of all the values and tells us what state the disk is in.
- Temperature : from here it shows us the temperature of the disk, so to avoid problems it is convenient that it be as low as possible.
- General device information : in this section we can see the brand, model, firmware, operating time and other general information about the HDD or SSD.
- Individual SMART information : here, we will be able to see the status of each of the points that the SMART controls to know if, although the disk appears to be fine, there is a point where it could fail.
In the upper part we find several tabs, where it is convenient to highlight its Function section, from where we find the different functions that we can carry out with the program.
From here we have different options to determine how and how often the program data is refreshed. It also has the Graph function from where we can see the behavior of the available memories. We can also hide the serial number , something that can be very useful if we are going to share screenshots of the program.
Another interesting section is its Advanced Options from where we will be able to configure the temperature scale, the waiting time to start the program, carry out an advanced search for hard drives or hide the information that SMART offers us.
Is it worth using?
This software is responsible for providing us with a complete reading of all the SMART information of our PC, as well as the current temperature and its health status. It has a clear interface that makes it easy for us to find all the information we need. On the contrary, it is also worth mentioning that unless we have some knowledge of the information it shows us, we will not be able to deduce much from it, since it does not have any help or explanation function for the data it offers. That is why in order to take full advantage of it, it should be used mainly by advanced users . In this case, you apply with an excellent free option.
Free download
CrystalDiskInfo is free software, so we can use it without having to spend a single euro, by simply downloading it from its official website . The program is compatible with Windows in its different versions up to Windows 11, as well as with 32-bit and 64-bit systems.
It has three download options since we can choose from different skins: Standard Edition, Shizuku Edition and Kurei Kei Edition. All the options are identical in terms of the software content, since it only modifies the aesthetic section. In each of the versions we will have up to four sections for downloading the program, either compressed or uncompressed, as well as installable or portable.
Of course we are going to recommend the portable version, since it does not require installation and therefore does not modify the Windows registry. In addition, we can run it directly from any external storage device such as a hard drive, a flash drive, or even a memory card.
Other alternatives
If we are looking for a program with which we can find out the status of our hard drive or SSD, we can also opt for one of these alternatives to CrystalDiskInfo:
HD Tune
We are talking about a program with which we can carry out a visual analysis of our hard drive and check its internal behavior. It also scans your SMART data as well as your bad sectors. In addition, it is also used to measure the temperature of the HDD or SSD and its hours of use. We can download HD Tune from the developer’s website .
DiskCheckup
It is a program with which we are going to be able to carry out basic diagnostic work on the state of the storage units that we have on our computer, being able to monitor the SMART data, and even configure alarms so that the program notifies us in the event that the hard drive reaches a high temperature. If we want to try DiskCheckup, we can download it from its main web page .
