How to check which SSD you have
With the PC industry filled with wacky (and borderline insane) naming conventions, it's not easy to remember the names of all your components. Even if you have memorized the names of the expensive parts like the graphics card and processor, you may not be able to recall the finer details about the other components, like the solid-state drive used to boot into your favorite OS.
Despite their usual irrelevance in day-to-day usage, there are times when you'd want to identify your SSD specs. Perhaps you're in the middle of upgrading your system and want to check if the current SSD is worth swapping out with a newer drive. Or maybe you want to know your SSD's specs before selling it off.
Keep tabs on your SSD's health to ensure smooth performance
The easiest way to identify your SSD is to examine the label attached to it or check its box. But if you don't have the original box and are unwilling to tear down your laptop/desktop, no worries! This guide will include all possible methods to find the name, serial number, and other details of your SSD.
How to check your SSD using the Device Manager
If you're on a Windows OS, you can use the Task Manager to view the name of the SSD. To do so,
- Right-click on the Start button and choose Device Manager.
- Click on the drop-down arrow next to Disk drives to reveal the model name of all your storage drives.
Since the Device Manager doesn't reveal whether a drive is an HDD or an SSD, you'll have to search the model name online to ensure you're looking at an SSD.
How to check your SSD using Disk Management
The Disk Management utility is typically used to manage the drives and their partitions, but you can also use it to find out the name of your SSD.
- Right-click on the Start button and pick Disk Management.
- Right-click on any Storage Volume and select Properties.
- The names of all storage drives will show up once you navigate to the Hardware tab.
How to check your SSD using Windows Terminal
The Terminal in Windows 11 is a powerful tool that lets you execute various commands to view the SSD details, including wmic disk drive and Get-PhysicalDisk.
- Right-click on the Start button and select Terminal (Admin).
- Grant administrator privileges to the Terminal when prompted.
- Type the following command and press Enter: wmic diskdrive get model,serialNumber,size,mediaType
- The details of the SSD, HDD, and other storage drives will appear.
- Alternatively, you can run the Get-PhysicalDisk command to get your drives' operational status, media type, and health status.
How to check your SSD using HWiNFO64
If you want even more information than the Windows Terminal can provide, you should focus on third-party apps. I regularly use HWiNFO64 as it's one of the least intrusive free-to-use applications for checking hardware details. All you have to do is:
- Download the portable version of the app from this link.
- Run HWiNFO64.exe with admin privileges.
- Click on the Plus icon next to Drives.
- Your hard drives and SSDs will be visible under the NVMe Drives and the (S)ATA/ATAPI Drives.
You can view the detailed statistics of all the drives on the right-hand side of the HWiNFO64 application.
How to check your SSD using BIOS
If you cannot boot into the OS, you can use the BIOS to identify all the SSDs, HDDs, and USB drives connected to your system.
- When your PC starts, keep pressing the Del key on your keyboard.
- Head to the System Info. tab.
- The model names of all storage drives will be visible under SATA Slot Info and M.2 Slot Info.
- Alternatively, you can see the storage drives listed under the Storage tab in the EZ Mode.
Which drive do you have?
Viewing the drives' names is an easy task; what's difficult is identifying whether the drive in question is a hard drive or an SSD. Google and other search engines are your best friends. Unless the drive shows up as a "Generic Storage Disk," a quick search of its name will reveal most of its specifications.
Now that you know how to check the SSD details, maybe you want to grab a faster one to replace the old, beaten-up drive. Be sure to look into our favorite SSDs if you need help picking out a new high-speed drive for your system.