How to check hard drive temperature on Windows 11

Here are two easy ways to determine the temperature of the hard drive on your computer.

Windows 11 drive temp info
Windows 11 drive temp info / Image: Mauro Huculak
  • To check the drive temperature on Windows 11, open Settings > System > Storage > Disks & volumes, click the “Properties” button for the drive, and confirm the temperature.
  • Alternatively, you can install CrystalDiskInfo to determine the hard drive temperature on your Windows 11 (or 10) device.

On Windows 11, you have more than one way to check the temperature of the hard drive, and in this guide, I’ll show you two ways using the Settings app and the CrystalDiskInfo third-party tool.

Usually, you don’t think about checking the hard drive temp on your computer, but depending on your work environment or the task at hand, it’s a good idea to do so since running a storage drive at a high temperature can affect performance and cause other problems.

As a rule of thumb, running a drive below 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit) is a good temperature. Anything higher could indicate an overheating issue with the drive. Hard drives typically run between 30 (86F) and 45 (113F) degrees Celsius.

If you have Windows 11 installed on your computer, you don’t have to use third-party tools since the Settings app includes a feature to check the drive’s health, including temperature. However, this option is only available for Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) Solid-State Drives (SSDs).

On the other hand, you can also use third-party apps, such as CrystalDiskInfo, to check the temperature of the drive regardless of the media type, including NVMe, legacy SSDs, and traditional rotating platters Hard Disk Drives (HDDs).

In this guide, I will teach you the steps to determine the drive temperature on Windows 11.

Check hard drive temp on Windows 11 from Settings

To find out the hard drive’s current temperature, use these steps:

  1. Open Settings on Windows 11.

  2. Click on System.

  3. Click the Storage page.

  4. Click on “Advanced storage settings” and “Disks & volumes.”

    Open Disks & volumes settings

  5. Click the Properties button for the drive.

    Open drive properties

  6. Under the “Drive health” section, confirm the temperature.

Once you complete the steps, the Settings app will show you the current temperature of the drive, which is valuable information you can use to troubleshoot problems or rethink the cooling system for the device.

In addition to temperature, the “Drive heath” feature on Windows 11 also shows the estimated remaining life of the storage and the available space. The feature is also capable of notifying you about any hardware abnormalities, allowing you to back up your data to prevent data loss.

Check hard drive temp on Windows 11 from CrystalDiskInfo

To check the drive temperature with the CrystalDiskInfo app on Windows 11 (or 10), use these steps:

  1. Open Start.

  2. Search for CrystalDiskInfo and click the top result to open the app.

    Quick tip: If you don’t already have the app, you can open Command Prompt (admin) and use the winget install --id XP8K4RGX25G3GM command. You can also install the app from the Microsoft Store.
  3. Confirm the drive temperature. 

    CrystalDiskInfo drive temperature

After you complete the steps, the app will display the temperature of the drive and the health status. If you have multiple drives, you can switch between them using the tabs below the file menu.

In addition to the temperature, CrystalDiskInfo can also surface valuable information about the drive, such as firmware version, serial number, features, and more.

While the Settings app feature is only available for Windows 11 devices, the “CrystalDiskInfo” app is available for Windows 11 as well as for Windows 10, and it can provide temperature readings for other media types.

If you want to check the temperature of other hardware components on your computer, you can use these instructions to determine this information for the device’s processor or graphics card.

About the author

Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 14 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me.