Interactive Troubleshooter

Published: Sep 9, 2026

CrystalDiskInfo: Read SMART Data Correctly

Time: 15 mins Level: Beginner

By StepDiag Engineering Team

Reviewed by Ibraheem Taofeeq Opeyemi

An exhaustive root-cause diagnostic tree and interpretation guide for CrystalDiskInfo SMART attributes. This guide details how to switch hex raw values to decimal, evaluate critical HDD sector relocation metrics, analyze NVMe media wear indicators, and fix disk detection pass-through issues on RAID or USB bridges.

Full Diagnostic Tree & Step-by-Step Overview

What specific SMART evaluation or drive detection issue are you experiencing in CrystalDiskInfo?

Raw values appear in confusing Hexadecimal format (e.g., 00000000001A), making counts hard to read
Drive health status displays 'Caution' or 'Bad' due to Mechanical HDD Sector Errors (SATA / SAS)
NVMe / SATA SSD shows health degradation, wear alerts, or high spare block consumption
CrystalDiskInfo fails to detect the drive, shows blank attributes, or cannot read external USB / RAID drives

Which raw data display issue needs conversion or threshold adjustment?

Raw values are displayed in 16 [HEX] format instead of standard base-10 integer counts
Temperature display unit is misconfigured or health thresholds trigger false-positive warnings

Convert Raw Values Display from Hexadecimal (16 [HEX]) to Standard Decimal (10 [DEC])

Solution:

Root Cause: Default Hexadecimal (Base-16) Raw Attribute Encoding

By default, CrystalDiskInfo outputs SMART attribute Raw Values in 12-digit Hexadecimal (Base-16) notation. While normalized values (Current, Worst, Threshold) are mapped on a vendor-defined scale from 1 to 100 or 200, the Raw Value field represents the actual physical occurrence count (e.g., number of bad sectors, read errors, or power-on hours). Reading Base-16 strings directly often leads technicians to misinterpret low hexadecimal counts as high decimal values or miss incremental hardware failure signals.

Diagnostic Verification:

1Open CrystalDiskInfo with administrative permissions.

2Inspect the rightmost column labeled Raw Values.

3If entries contain letters (e.g., 00000000001A or 0000000000FF), the display mode is set to Base-16 Hexadecimal instead of Base-10 Decimal.

Step-by-Step Fix:

1Modify Raw Value Display Mode:

Click Function in the top menu bar.

Navigate to Advanced Feature -> Raw Values.

Change the selection from 16 [HEX] to 10 [DEC].

2Interpret Converted Base-10 Values:

Verify that the Raw Values column now displays standard human-readable integer values (e.g., 00000000001A hex becomes 26 decimal).

3Differentiate Single-Value vs Multi-Byte Attributes:

Note that certain vendors (such as Seagate or Western Digital) compress multiple telemetry metrics into a single 48-bit Raw Value field for raw read error rates or seek error rates. For these specific attributes, normalized values (Current vs Threshold) take precedence over raw integer counts.

Prevention & Long-Term Monitoring:

Save the configuration to the application INI file by keeping DiskInfo.ini in the install directory with RawValues=10 set.

Set up automated background health checks via Function -> Event Log to record metric changes over time.

Adjust Temperature Scale & Custom Caution Health Thresholds

Solution:

Root Cause: Uncalibrated Caution Alert Trigger Thresholds

CrystalDiskInfo evaluates drive status using pre-programmed metric rules. When a drive hits generic vendor parameters—or when internal system thermals fluctuate under high ambient load—the utility fires a 'Caution' alert. If thermal units are set incorrectly or sector thresholds trigger alerts on benign controller events, false-positive disk degradation alarms occur.

Diagnostic Verification:

1Check the drive status box in CrystalDiskInfo.

2Identify if the warning is driven solely by a yellow temperature indicator (e.g., exceeding 60°C on NVMe controllers) or a custom sector threshold.

Step-by-Step Fix:

1Change Temperature Scale Unit:

Navigate to Function -> Advanced Feature -> Temperature Operations.

Toggle between Celsius (°C) and Fahrenheit (°F) based on monitoring preferences.

2Adjust Health Status Warning Thresholds:

Select Function -> Health Status Setting.

Select the target drive from the top dropdown menu.

Adjust the sliders for Reallocated Sectors Count, Current Pending Sector Count, and Uncorrectable Sector Count to prevent false triggers during scheduled sector recovery tasks.

Click Apply and close the window.

Prevention & Long-Term Monitoring:

Ensure physical system enclosures maintain optimal airflow; high-performance NVMe M.2 drives require passive heatsinks to maintain operating temperatures below 70°C.

Which specific Mechanical HDD SMART attribute code triggers the Caution or Bad warning?

Attribute 05: Reallocated Sectors Count has a non-zero raw value
Attribute C5: Current Pending Sector Count or C6: Uncorrectable Sector Count is elevated
Attribute C7: UltraDMA CRC Error Count is steadily increasing

Diagnose HDD Physical Platter Wear: Reallocated Sectors Count (Attribute 05)

Solution:

Root Cause: Reserve Sector Allocation & Mechanical Platter Failure

SMART Attribute 05 (Reallocated Sectors Count) tracks physical sector remap events. When a hard drive's internal microcode encounters a read/write failure on a magnetic platter sector, it remaps the damaged LBA address to a healthy spare sector located in the drive's reserved service track. Once remapped, the Raw Value increments. A non-zero, continuously increasing value indicates active surface degradation or read-head failure.

Diagnostic Verification:

1Confirm raw value conversion is set to 10 [DEC].

2Locate Attribute 05 (Reallocated Sectors Count).

3Compare the Current value against the Threshold value.

4If Current drops below Threshold, the drive's internal reserve pool is completely exhausted, placing the disk at imminent risk of total data loss.

Step-by-Step Fix:

1Immediate Backup & Data Mitigation:

Immediately back up critical volumes using disk imaging tools. Avoid running heavy write operations directly to the degrading drive.

2Run Windows CHKDSK to Verify File System Integrity:

Open PowerShell as Administrator and execute a read-only surface check:

chkdsk X: /f /r /x
*(Replace X: with the affected drive letter)*

3Perform Off-line Surface Analysis via smartctl:

Open Command Prompt and run the smartmontools Documentation utility to trigger a long self-test:

smartctl -t long /dev/pdN
*(Replace N with the physical drive index)*

4Replace Failing Storage Hardware:

Hard drives with incrementing reallocated sector counts must be decommissioned, as physical platter decay cannot be repaired via software formatting.

Prevention & Long-Term Monitoring:

Prevent physical drive shock by mounting HDDs securely with anti-vibration rubber grommets.

Set up CrystalDiskInfo background service via Function -> Resident and Startup to alert instantly if Attribute 05 increments.

Resolve Current Pending Sectors (Attribute C5) & Offline Uncorrectable (Attribute C6)

Solution:

Root Cause: Unstable Sectors Awaiting Write-Verification

Attribute C5 (Current Pending Sector Count) represents 'unstable' sectors that failed recent read operations and are waiting to be remapped or cleared. Unlike Attribute 05, pending sectors are not yet permanently retired. The drive controller will test the sector during the next write command: if the write succeeds, the sector is marked healthy and C5 decrements; if the write fails, the sector is remapped to the spare pool and Attribute 05 increments.

Diagnostic Verification:

1Locate Attribute C5 (Current Pending Sector Count) and C6 (Uncorrectable Sector Count).

2Note the decimal raw integer count.

3Check Windows Event Viewer (eventvwr.msc) under Windows Logs -> System for Event ID 7 ( The device, \Device\HarddiskN\DRN, has a bad block).

Step-by-Step Fix:

1Force Sector Resolution via Zero-Fill (Write Overwrite):

Backup all non-corrupted data from the drive.

Open PowerShell as Administrator and run a full disk zero-fill format using diskpart to force write checks across all sectors:

diskpart
list disk
select disk N
clean all
*(Warning: 'clean all' completely overwrites drive data with zeroes)*

2Re-evaluate SMART Status in CrystalDiskInfo:

Re-open CrystalDiskInfo after formatting completes.

If Attribute C5 drops back to 0 and Attribute 05 remains low, the drive has successfully isolated or recovered the unstable blocks.

If Attribute C5 transfers directly into Attribute 05 with a high count, replace the drive.

Prevention & Long-Term Monitoring:

Avoid sudden power interruptions or force-shutdowns while heavy disk write operations are in progress.

Fix UltraDMA CRC Error Count (Attribute C7) Interface Drops

Solution:

Root Cause: SATA Bus Communication & Cable Degradation

Attribute C7 (UltraDMA CRC Error Count) measures data transfer errors occurring on the physical interface bus between the motherboard storage controller and the hard drive logic board. These errors are caused by damaged SATA data cables, loose connector pins, bad motherboard SATA ports, or electromagnetic interference—not physical media/platter corruption on the disk itself.

Diagnostic Verification:

1Locate Attribute C7 (UltraDMA CRC Error Count).

2Observe the Raw Value integer count.

3Note: The Raw Value for Attribute C7 never resets to zero even after replacing the cable; it serves as a historical record. If the raw value stops increasing over time, the issue is resolved.

Step-by-Step Fix:

1Replace SATA Interface Cables:

Power off the system and disconnect the power supply.

Replace the existing SATA data cable with a new, latching SATA III (6 Gbps) shielded cable.

2Switch Motherboard SATA Ports:

Move the SATA cable to a different physical port on the motherboard, avoiding un-vectored secondary third-party storage controllers (e.g., ASMedia ports).

3Clean Power Connections:

Re-seat the SATA power connector from the PSU to ensure stable voltage rails.

4Verify Stability:

Write down the current Raw Value of Attribute C7. Perform a large file copy operation and verify that the count does not increment further.

Prevention & Long-Term Monitoring:

Avoid bending SATA cables at sharp 90-degree angles during cable management.

Which Solid-State Drive (SSD) SMART metric indicates potential wear or failure?

NVMe Percentage Used / Health Status indicator showing degraded life remaining
NVMe Available Spare attribute dropped below Threshold limit
SATA SSD Vendor Specific Media Wearout / Erase Fail Count is elevated

Interpret NVMe Health Percentage Used & Total Bytes Written (TBW)

Solution:

Root Cause: NAND Flash Cell Endurance & TBW Consumption

Unlike magnetic hard drives, Solid State Drives (SSDs) utilize NAND flash memory that suffers structural wear during program/erase (P/E) cycles. NVMe drives expose standardized telemetry defined by the NVM Express specification. The Percentage Used attribute estimates the vendor-calculated endurance consumed based on total Terabytes Written (TBW). Reaching 100% does not mean immediate drive failure, but indicates the drive has exceeded its rated write endurance warranty.

Diagnostic Verification:

1Select the target NVMe drive in CrystalDiskInfo.

2Check the top left Health Status percentage box.

3Locate attributes Data Units Read and Data Units Written.

4Calculate total written bytes: Multiply the raw decimal value of Data Units Written by 1000 x 512 bytes (or review the gigabyte/terabyte total rendered automatically in the top header).

Step-by-Step Fix:

1Cross-Reference Vendor TBW Specs:

Check the drive model's official spec sheet to compare current Data Units Written against the maximum rated TBW.

2Audit Write-Heavy Applications:

Open Windows Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc), switch to the App History or Details tab, and add the I/O Writes column to isolate software causing excessive write wear (e.g., database logging, browser caches, unconfigured swap files).

3Relocate System Paging File (Pagefile.sys):

Press Win + R, type sysdm.cpl, go to Advanced -> Performance Settings -> Advanced -> Virtual Memory.

Move or restrict the pagefile size on heavily worn SSDs.

Prevention & Long-Term Monitoring:

Maintain at least 15-20% free unallocated space on high-capacity SSDs to assist the internal controller's wear-leveling and garbage collection routines.

Fix NVMe Available Spare & Critical Warning Telemetry Flags

Solution:

Root Cause: Reserved NAND Block Exhaustion & Controller Failure

When NVMe drives encounter bad flash cells, the drive's Flash Translation Layer (FTL) allocates new blocks from its Available Spare pool. If the Available Spare attribute drops below the manufacturer-defined Available Spare Threshold, the NVMe controller triggers a Critical Warning state bit in the SMART log. Under severe spare depletion, the drive controller may switch to read-only mode to prevent data corruption.

Diagnostic Verification:

1Select the NVMe drive in CrystalDiskInfo.

2Inspect Attribute 01 (Critical Warning) and Attribute 02 (Available Spare).

3If Critical Warning exhibits any raw value other than 0 (e.g., 0x01 available spare low, 0x02 temperature threshold exceeded, 0x04 NVM subsystem reliability degraded), immediate action is required.

Step-by-Step Fix:

1Backup Critical Volumes Instantly:

Immediately extract sensitive data to an external target. If the NVMe controller drops into read-only mode, files can still be pulled, but writes will be rejected.

2Update SSD Controller Firmware:

Download and install the official manufacturer SSD management software (e.g., Samsung Magician, Crucial Executive, Western Digital Dashboard).

Apply pending firmware updates to resolve false-positive spare exhaustion telemetry caused by microcode bugs.

3Execute Secure Erase / Factory Reset (If Retaining Hardware):

If the drive remains functional after backup, use the vendor tool to issue an NVMe Format / Secure Erase command to reset the FTL mapping tables.

Prevention & Long-Term Monitoring:

Monitor NVMe thermal throttling logs to prevent high heat from accelerating NAND cell wear.

Interpret SATA SSD Media Wearout Indicator (Attribute AD/B8/E7)

Solution:

Root Cause: Legacy Vendor-Specific SATA Wear Attributes

Unlike NVMe drives with uniform SMART definitions, SATA SSDs rely on vendor-specific SMART attributes for wear monitoring. Common attributes include AD (Wear Leveling Count), B8 (End-to-End Error), E7 (Drive Life Protection Status), or E9 (Media Wearout Indicator). A declining normalized value in these attributes indicates that available program/erase cycles on the NAND flash blocks are approaching zero.

Diagnostic Verification:

1In CrystalDiskInfo, inspect Attribute AD, E7, or E9 depending on the SSD controller brand (e.g., Silicon Motion, Phison, Marvell).

2Read the Current normalized value column. On fresh drives, this value starts at 100 and counts down to 0 or 1 as the drive wears out.

3Check Attribute B8 (End-to-End Error). A non-zero raw value indicates data corruption occurring between the drive's onboard DRAM cache and the NAND interface.

Step-by-Step Fix:

1Verify Interface Protocol Status:

Check the Transfer Mode header in CrystalDiskInfo to confirm the drive is operating at SATA/600 | SATA/600 instead of fallback SATA/300 speeds.

2Enable TRIM Support in Windows:

Open PowerShell as Administrator and verify TRIM status:

fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify

If the output is 1 (disabled), force enable TRIM:

fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify 0

3Manual Optimization Drive Retrim:

Run the Windows Drive Optimize tool to trigger immediate garbage collection:

Optimize-Volume -DriveLetter C -ReTrim -Verbose

Prevention & Long-Term Monitoring:

Keep TRIM active at all times to minimize write amplification factor (WAF) on SATA SSD controllers.

Why is CrystalDiskInfo failing to detect the storage drive or read SMART parameters?

Target drive is connected via external USB enclosure, bridge adapter, or dock
Drives are configured behind a hardware RAID controller or Intel RST array
CrystalDiskInfo fails to launch, displays blank screens, or lacks system permissions

Enable USB Bridge Passthrough (SAT / NVMe USB Driver Protocols)

Solution:

Root Cause: Incompatible USB-to-SATA/NVMe Bridge Chipset

External drive enclosures and docking stations utilize USB bridge chipsets (e.g., ASMedia, JMicron, Realtek) to translate internal SATA/NVMe commands to USB Mass Storage or UASP (USB Attached SCSI Protocol) commands. If the bridge controller blocks SCSI-ATA Command Pass-Through (SAT) or NVMe-over-USB commands, standard SMART queries issued by CrystalDiskInfo are dropped, causing the drive to appear missing or unreadable.

Diagnostic Verification:

1Open CrystalDiskInfo and check if the external drive letter appears in the top drive selection bar.

2If missing, open Windows Device Manager (devmgmt.msc) and check under Disk drives and Universal Serial Bus controllers to verify if the USB enclosure is enumerated by the OS.

Step-by-Step Fix:

1Enable Advanced Disk Search Protocols in CrystalDiskInfo:

Navigate to Function -> Advanced Feature -> Target Disk.

Ensure all drive letters are checked.

Go to Function -> Advanced Feature -> Disk Scan Type and select Re-scan.

2Force USB SAT Protocol Scanning:

Select Function -> Advanced Feature -> Hide RAID Volume (uncheck if applicable).

Enable USB bridge support by checking Function -> Advanced Feature -> Auto Detection.

3Update USB Bridge Chipset Firmware / Drivers:

Download official ASMedia or JMicron UASP storage controller drivers.

Update USB host controller drivers in Device Manager under Universal Serial Bus controllers.

Prevention & Long-Term Monitoring:

Use UASP-compliant USB 3.2 enclosures that explicitly support SMART pass-through functionality.

Enable CSMI & Hardware RAID Controller SMART Passthrough

Solution:

Root Cause: RAID Controller Abstraction & Storage Driver Isolation

When storage drives are bound inside a hardware RAID array (e.g., RAID 0, 1, 5, 10) or managed by proprietary storage drivers (such as Intel Rapid Storage Technology or MegaRAID), the controller abstracts physical drive hardware into virtual logical volumes. Standard Windows storage APIS cannot access physical disk endpoints unless explicit CSMI (Common Storage Management Interface) pass-through rules are enabled.

Diagnostic Verification:

1Check if CrystalDiskInfo displays a single virtual RAID volume with missing individual physical drive SMART attribute lists.

2Open Device Manager and check under Storage controllers for active RAID drivers (e.g., Intel Chipset SATA/PCIe RST Premium Controller or Broadcom MegaRAID).

Step-by-Step Fix:

1Enable CSMI Access in CrystalDiskInfo:

Navigate to Function -> Advanced Feature -> CSMI.

Enable Enable CSMI and select CSMI Port Scan.

Restart CrystalDiskInfo with elevated administrative privileges.

2Configure Intel RST Registry Passthrough Override:

Open PowerShell as Administrator and run the registry modification to enable Intel RST SMART telemetry pass-through:

New-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStorA\Parameters' -Name 'EnableSmart' -Value 1 -PropertyType DWORD -Force

3Use Proprietary RAID Management CLI Tools for Enterprise Cards:

For LSI/Broadcom MegaRAID cards, install StorCLI and run physical drive SMART queries directly via command line:

storcli /c0 /eall /sall show all

Prevention & Long-Term Monitoring:

Configure dedicated hardware RAID management software to send automated email alerts on physical drive SMART trips.

Fix CrystalDiskInfo Administrative Privileges & Execution Blocks

Solution:

Root Cause: Low-Level Physical Device Handle Authorization Block

Reading raw SMART logs requires issuing direct IOCTL_STORAGE_QUERY_PROPERTY and SMART_RCV_DRIVE_DATA control codes to the low-level kernel storage drivers (disk.sys). If CrystalDiskInfo is executed without administrative privileges, or if Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) blocks raw physical disk handles (\\.\PhysicalDriveN), the application fails to fetch drive status.

Diagnostic Verification:

1Check if launching CrystalDiskInfo fails to display User Account Control (UAC) prompts.

2Verify if the application status bar displays 'Disk Not Found' across all system storage slots.

Step-by-Step Fix:

1Force Administrative Privileges Launch:

Right-click DiskInfo64.exe and select Run as Administrator.

To permanently set administrative rights: Right-click DiskInfo64.exe -> Properties -> Compatibility tab -> Check Run this program as an administrator -> Click Apply.

2Add Windows Defender Exclusion:

Open PowerShell as Administrator and add the CrystalDiskInfo directory to the Defender exclusion path:

Add-MpPreference -ExclusionPath "C:\Program Files\CrystalDiskInfo"

3Re-register WMI Storage Service Counters:

If SMART data structures are corrupted at the OS level, rebuild WMI storage classes via administrative Command Prompt:

net stop winmgmt
winmgmt /repositoryreset
net start winmgmt

Prevention & Long-Term Monitoring:

Always deploy official, signed executables directly from the publisher's site to ensure security software compatibility.

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