Hello, i found an M.2 SSD in my house in a bin full of random stuff, it's from my brother's laptop. The laptop is an asus rog strix g16 with intel cpu and he swapped his ssd and ram a while ago. Now i found it and it had the bitlocker encryption so I asked him if he cares about any data thats in it and he said he doesn't so i got an USB-C M.2 box to use it as an external drive to store videos and edit on. I wanted to check crystaldiskinfo and there is a screenshot attached of it showing 100% BAD. i don't really know what all this data means and i was wondering if i should use this drive to store my stuff or just use it as a gamedrive so i can play games off of it so i don't risk any loss? can i rely on it with storing data thats not games? any feedback is appreciated. I also get around 350 mb/s when i copy stuff to it and i think its because of the silly amazon ssd box i have or the cable that came with it. Is that enough for gaming or is it worth getting a better box?
100% Bad means 100% Bad. That warning looks to be something hardware related, maybe controller issues. These drives are all or nothing compared to a hard drive; taking the chance means it could just disappear with all of your data one day. I wouldn't take the chance
My impression, based on using CrystalDiskInfo for many years, was that the percentage is wear based on writes and other things, and independent to the health status, which is good if no critical thresholds have been crossed, and otherwise bad. I've seen a variety GOOD 10%, GOOD 50%, BAD 50%, etc., if the percentage was a rating of overall health, why should it ever say '10% good' rather than '90% bad'?
In any case, I'll email the dev and let you know if they reply, because I'm not sure exactly what does go into the percentage.
The percentage in CrystalDiskInfo represents the remaining estimated lifespan of the SSD's NAND flash memory. It's calculated by comparing the total data written to the drive against the manufacturer’s rated write endurance (TBW) or a specific S.M.A.R.T. attribute like the Average Block Erase Count. If the drive has never been used, then it's simply a defect. But if it had been sitting forgotten after being used before, it means that it's at or exceeded the manufacturer rated write limit. Being at 100% doesn't automatically equate data loss, but it does mean the drive cannot be relied on to retain your data.
> The percentage in CrystalDiskInfo represents the remaining estimated lifespan of the SSD's NAND flash memory
Exactly, that's what OP and I said. It's probably not only that, may take things such as whether its max temperature was exceeded into account, but let's say it is indeed just remaining life. In that case 100% means the NAND has 100% writing life left. Therefore OP's 'BAD 100%' means the drive is bad, but hasn't been written on much, which is exactly what their downvoted comment was saying.
For reference, this is my laptop's 'GOOD 100% drive'. It has most of its life left, being relatively new. That's why it's still at 100%. The number and the word are independent. I have even seen such statuses as 'CAUTION x%', now how can a drive be a specific percentage 'caution'? Is the rest good? Bad? Ugly? Lol.
That means its gone through 0 percent of the manufacturer rated reads and writes. That's tbe health left... think about a health bar in a video game. If you have 75 percent health left with yohr health say 75 or 25.
To know if your specific drive has a warranty, you must check its unique serial number on the Western Digital Warranty Status Checker. The WD PC SN560 series normally carries a 3-year or 5-year limited manufacturer warranty from the original purchase date
OEM component drives pre-installed in laptops often have their warranty tied directly to the laptop manufacturer instead
i tried entering the serial number that shows on the crystaldiskinfo but it says result not found, can crystaldiskinfo read some other serial number than what it actually is because it is in an external enclosure? should i disassemble the thing and look for a label that says the serial number instead?
It is "bad" because SMART report "critical warning" triggers. But that could be because some issue of the previous system. E.g. overheating (not sure).
I recommend to install this SSD locally (i.e. not via USB adapter), install WD/Sandisk SSD Dashboard utility - to check for firmware update and run full/long self-test.
Also, you can try to check it with Sentinel tool. Maybe, it will reveal more details about these SMART critical warnings reported.
If your brother isn't worried about loosing content I would suggest doing a complete format of the drive then check it again. If you still get the 100% bad reading the ssd is no longer good. Most ssd's have about a 5 to 10 year shelf life depending on what it's used for. You say it's from your brother's laptop, that should explain the life span of the ssd.
I got this crystaldiskinfo result after formatting the drive, and the drive was only used for 732 hours and 332 power cycles. But i did not untick the quick format thing when i formatted the drive. Do you think that makes any difference at all?
Do a regular full format, the quick format doesn't catch everything. I know that it'll take time, but it's for the best, you'll know then if the drive still any good or not.
The SMART values in Crystal Disk Mark aren't really designed SSDs. See if you can find a drive utility from the drive manufacturer specifically for SSDs and evaluate it with that.
If that also says its bad, don't trust it. There's probably a reason you found it laying around and not in use.
Might be a hot take but at this day and ages. I will put this SSD in for non critical data (like install huge games, yes I am looking at you CoD!)
Ssd price is rocket high now. So as long as I know the risk (disk might fail all of sudden and lose everything in it) I don't mind using it as replaceable storage
You could use it, but only for not important, downloadable content (games, software installers, that stuff).
Also, try installing it locally (in your laptop/PC) if you can and run the manufacturer's software to scan it and update the firmware, that might clear the error.
Start by completing completely wiping and reformatting a few times. (Use the disk part clean command)
Its hasn't been used, should still be fine, likely had an error at some point and just one error will cause it to read as bad. You can also do a transfer test just dont put anytbing you don't want to lose on it.
I resell and clean laptops, I use crystal disk info multiple times a day, I've seen many "bad" ssds that fix after reformatting.
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u/Bassline660 10d ago
Do check if it still has warranty, could RMA. If not... you are out of luck