A practical guide to checking SSD and HDD health using SMART statistics across Linux, macOS, and Windows. Covers installing and using Smartmontools (smartctl) on Linux/macOS and CrystalDiskInfo on Windows. Explains how to identify disk device paths, enable SMART support, run basic health checks, and interpret key attributes including percent lifetime remaining, power-on hours, power cycle count, temperature readings, error counts, and total bytes written. Includes annotated real-world output from a 2014 Crucial SSD and WD HDD with explanations of what each metric means and when to be concerned.
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