Get-CrystalDiskInfo

What it does

Gathers detailed disk health and S.M.A.R.T. data to identify physically degrading hard drives and SSDs. It automatically downloads the required diagnostic tool, runs it silently, and returns a clean report.

When to use it

Use this script during hardware audits, break-fix troubleshooting, or proactive maintenance. It helps you catch failing drives before they cause data loss.

Requirements

• PowerShell 5.1 or higher
• Administrator privileges
• Internet access (if using the default download source)

Default Download Behavior

If you do not provide a custom source, the script downloads the latest CrystalDiskInfo ZIP from SourceForge. The default SourceForge mirror is located in India, which some regional firewalls block. If the download fails, use the -Source parameter to point to your own hosted copy.

Host Your Own Copy (Recommended)

To avoid firewall blocks and speed up deployment, download the tool once and host it on your own network.

1. Download the Standard Edition ZIP from the official CrystalDiskInfo site.
2. Upload the ZIP to your internal file share, IT portal, or web server.
3. Pass that location to the script using the -Source parameter.

Usage Examples

Run a standard health check:

$GetDiskInfo = .\Get-CrystalDiskInfo.ps1

Filter for failing drives:

$FailingDisks = $GetDiskInfo | Where-Object { $_.SMART | Where-Object -Property Problematic }

Set a custom reallocated sector threshold (HDDs only). Flags the disk as degraded only if it exceeds 50 remapped sectors:

$GetDiskInfo = .\Get-CrystalDiskInfo.ps1 -ReallocatedSector 50

Use a custom local path:

$GetDiskInfo = .\Get-CrystalDiskInfo.ps1 -Source 'C:\Tools\CrystalDiskInfo.zip'

Use a custom network (UNC) path:

$GetDiskInfo = .\Get-CrystalDiskInfo.ps1 -Source '\\fileserver\share\CrystalDiskInfo.zip'

Use a custom web URL:

$GetDiskInfo = .\Get-CrystalDiskInfo.ps1 -Source 'https://host.example.com/CrystalDiskInfo.zip'

Parameters

Parameter	Alias	Required	Type	Description
ReallocatedSector	r	No	int	Sets the maximum allowed remapped sectors before an HDD is flagged as degraded. Ignored for SSDs.
Source	src	No	string	Path or URL to the CrystalDiskInfo ZIP. Accepts local paths, UNC shares, or HTTP URLs. Falls back to the default source if omitted or if the download fails.

Understanding the Results

The script returns one object per physical disk. Each object holds standard drive details plus a SMART array. SATA and NVMe drives report health differently, so the array has two shapes.

SATA drives report a vendor grade plus the physical count. Current, Worst, and Threshold are scores from 1 to 253 where higher is better. RawValue is the physical reality, such as the exact number of bad sectors. A drive can hold a perfect grade while still hiding hundreds of bad sectors.

NVMe drives report pure physical values only. There is no grading system. Values are converted to real units such as Celsius, percent, and gigabytes.

The Problematic flag is the value to trust. It is calculated from the physical data, not from the vendor grade.

Output Property Reference

Disk object (one per physical disk)

Property	Example	Description
ID	1	Sequential index of the disk in the report
Model	SKHynix_HFS512GDE9X081N	Drive model string
Firmware	41730C20	Firmware revision
Serial Number	FJB8N580114808H3A	Drive serial number
Disk Size	512.1 GB	Capacity as reported by the drive
Interface	NVM Express	Bus type, NVM Express or Serial ATA
Standard	NVM Express 1.3	Protocol standard, when reported
Transfer Mode	PCIe 3.0 x4 | PCIe 3.0 x4	Current and maximum transfer mode
Rotation Rate	7200 RPM	Present on spinning HDDs only
Power On Hours	6020 hours	Lifetime powered hours
Power On Count	755 count	Lifetime power cycles
Host Reads	61523 GB	Lifetime host reads, when reported
Host Writes	36483 GB	Lifetime host writes, when reported
Temperature	57 C (134 F)	Current drive temperature
Health Status	Good (98 %)	CrystalDiskInfo overall health verdict
Features	S.M.A.R.T., TRIM, VolatileWriteCache	Supported feature set
Drive Letter	C: D:	Letters currently assigned to the disk
SMART	Array of attribute objects	Parsed S.M.A.R.T. table, see below

SMART attribute object for SATA drives

Property	Example	Description
ID	05	Attribute identifier in hex
Name	Reallocated Sectors Count	Attribute name as reported by the drive
Format	SATA	Marks the row as a SATA style attribute
Current	100	Normalized health score now, higher is better
Worst	100	Lowest normalized score ever recorded
Threshold	36	Vendor failure line
RawHex	000000000138	Raw 6 byte value as printed by CrystalDiskInfo
RawValue	312	Raw value converted to decimal
HumanReadable	312 sectors	Best effort units, vendor-specific where the raw encoding is not reliable
Status	OK	FAIL when Current is at or below Threshold, WARN when Worst is at or below Threshold, else OK
Problematic	False	True when Status is not OK or a known defect counter exceeds its threshold

SMART attribute object for NVMe drives

Property	Example	Description
ID	05	Attribute identifier in hex, per the NVMe specification
Name	Percentage Used	Attribute name as reported by the drive
Format	NVMe	Marks the row as an NVMe style attribute
RawHex	000000000002	Raw 6 byte value as printed by CrystalDiskInfo
RawValue	2	Raw value converted to decimal
HumanReadable	2 %	Spec defined units, Celsius for temperatures, percent for spare and wear, GB for data units, minutes or hours for time counters, plain count otherwise
Problematic	False	True when a spec failure condition is met, see below

Identify Problematic Disks

Filter the results by the Problematic flag to find degrading drives:

$FailingDisks = $GetDiskInfo | Where-Object { $_.SMART | Where-Object -Property Problematic }

An attribute is flagged Problematic when:

SATA:

• The vendor grade falls to or below the failure threshold.
• Pending, uncorrectable, or reported-uncorrectable sectors are above 0.
• Reallocated sectors exceed your -ReallocatedSector value, or 0 if omitted.

NVMe:

• Critical warning is set.
• Available spare is at or below 10 percent.
• Percentage used is at or above 95.
• Media integrity errors are above 0.
• Critical over-temperature time is above 0.

Log Files

Execution logs and error traces are saved to the working directory.

.\Get-CrystalDiskInfo-log.txt
.\Get-CrystalDiskInfo-error.txt

Changelog

2026-08-05

• Added: Deep S.M.A.R.T. attribute parsing for both SATA and NVMe drives.
• Added: Problematic boolean flag to instantly identify physical drive degradation, bypassing misleading vendor health scores.
• Added: HumanReadable conversions for raw hex values (e.g., exact temperatures, gigabytes written, and sector counts).
• Improved: Download fallback logic and SourceForge mirror handling.

2026-07-29

• Added: -Source parameter to allow specifying a custom URL, local file path, or UNC share for the CrystalDiskInfo ZIP file.

2025-04-10

• Initial version of the document