My wife's HP ENVY 360 started showing an "SMART drive imminent failure" warning during startup, even though Windows CHKDSK reports no filesystem errors. The laptop contains a Samsung 256GB M.2 SSD, installed around the time the computer was purchased in 2018; the module itself is dated 2019.08. If I dismiss the warning, the system still boots and appears to work normally.
I already backed up the contents of the laptop's secondary 1TB SATA SSD, cloned the 256GB M.2 system drive onto it with Clonezilla, removed the M.2 drive, and restored the secondary-drive files. The laptop booted successfully from the cloned drive.
What does the SMART warning detect that CHKDSK does not? Is it simply age, or could there be another issue? Is it normal for SSDs to begin failing after several years, and is there any useful diagnostic software I should run on the old drive?
3 Answers
SSDs have a finite write endurance. Flash memory cells gradually wear out, and the controller substitutes spare cells when the original ones stop working. Once the reserve pool is nearly depleted, the drive can raise a predictive-failure SMART warning even though it still works normally for the moment.
The exact lifespan varies by model and workload, but frequent writing, deleting, and rewriting can accelerate wear. A larger replacement SSD often has more flash available for wear leveling, too. Don't rely on the old drive now that it has warned you—keep the backup and replace it.
Use a tool such as CrystalDiskInfo or Samsung Magician to inspect the SMART attributes and see which value triggered the alert. Reallocated or failed blocks, remaining spare capacity, uncorrectable errors, or a low wear-leveling reserve are common causes.
The important distinction is that SMART reports the physical health of the drive, while CHKDSK checks the logical filesystem. A clean CHKDSK result does not override a SMART predictive-failure warning.
That warning comes from the SSD's own firmware and SMART health data. The drive tracks things such as failed flash blocks, error-correction activity, wear levels, and how many spare blocks remain available. CHKDSK only checks the filesystem and asks the drive to read or write data, so it can report everything as fine even while the drive's internal diagnostics are warning that the hardware is deteriorating.
SSD lifespan depends more on how much data has been written than on calendar age, although an eight-year-old boot drive can certainly be reaching the end of its useful life. Since you've already cloned it, replacing and retiring the M.2 drive is the sensible choice.
Related Questions
Lenovo Thinkpad Stuck In Update Loop Install FilterDriverU2_Reload