CrystalDiskInfo 8.1

Your hard drive is an incredibly important part of your computer. It's where all your files are stored, after all. One bad thing happens to it, and it's over for all those files. But how on earth can you possibly know when your disk is about to fail? You need monitoring software, and CrystalDiskInfo is a fine choice.

The installation process is nothing special, very straightforward assuming you've installed literally any program before. Its when you boot it up that you'll notice something. There's a ton of numbers on your screen, and if you're like me, you probably don't know what any of them mean. That's one of the biggest failings of CrystalDiskInfo, in fact. It doesn't tell you what anything means, and it expects you to already know what you're looking for. The help function simply redirects you to its website and it doesn't even provide any help.

One of CrystalDiskInfo's biggest features is that it can read your S.M.A.R.T values. For those who don't know what that stands for, it stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology. Basically, it's your hard drive's built-in feature that lets it analyze itself and let you know when something's wrong, but it reports those in values that would be indecipherable to a normal user. This program helps decipher that, and it does it well - if you know what you're looking for. If you're an experienced user who knows exactly what they're looking for, then this program will serve you well. Otherwise, I recommend you steer clear.