Microsoft has just released a new build to Windows insiders that has a new feature that keeps a closer eye on your storage, particularly on NVMe SSDs. Build 20226, which rolled out to testers 30 Sep 2020, includes ‘Storage health monitoring to protect user data’, at least that’s what Microsoft is saying on ti’s official Windows Insider Blog.
SSDs may be a lot faster than mechanical hard drives, but they aren’t immune to failure and can do so silently and without warning. Microsoft is aiming to avoid that potential disaster with a new drive health monitoring feature being added to Windows 10.
In the announcement for the Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20226, Brandon LeBlanc, author at the Windows Insider Blog, explains how this new drive health monitoring feature “is designed to detect hardware abnormalities for NVMe SSDs.” When such an abnormality is detected, a notification will appear on the desktop stating, “A storage device may be at risk of failure and requires your attention.” There’s also a clickable link to load up Windows 10’s drive management and backup options, which also provided more detail on why Windows decided to send the notification.
Seeing this notification pop-up is your signal to stop whatever it is you are doing and instead focus on backing up all your data. There’s a good chance that the super-fast SSD you’ve been relying on (hopefully for several years), is about to reach its end of life.
It’s possible to check the health of a drive at any time in Build 20226. Simply navigate to Settings > System > Storage > Manage disks and volumes > Properties where the Drive Health information is located. There you’ll see the estimated remaining life of the drive, its current temperature, and any warnings in red text. There’s also the option to “Back up now” for convenience. If you don’t want to use the Windows backup option, there’s a number of great back up apps to choose between, and you can always take preemptive action by using an online backup service.
