CNET Editors' review
CrystalDiskInfo is one of the tools we turn to when we want as much useful data as possible about our system's hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs) as well as many external drives. This free system utility monitors the health and status of your drives and displays the information in a compact, easy-to-read interface. CrystalDiskInfo monitors and displays your drives' temperature and SMART data, and it can even alert you when things start to go wrong.
CrystalDiskInfo's user interface displays your drives' health status and temperature sensor data (where available) in a bar along the top of the window. Selecting any drive's icon displays its details in the main view. The program opened with our C drive, an SSD. CrystalDiskInfo displayed its name, model number, and capacity. Many SSDs lack temperature sensors; ours included, so the temperature read zero degrees. But CrystalDiskInfo displayed a lot of useful data, including Power On Count and Hours, Host Reads and Writes, Firmware version, and Standards. Under Features, it showed that our SSD was compatible with SMART, TRIM, and NCQ as well as 48-bit Logical Block Addressing (LBA). CrystalDiskInfo displays detailed SMART data in the optional bottom view under a variety of headings. The second tab showed our HDD's data, including Rotation Rate. The program's settings include interface languages, fonts, and copy options. But the Function menu contains the most interesting stuff, such as a separate Graph that can display dozens of disk parameters, startup and temperature display options, workarounds, and the ability to open the Windows Device Manager and Disk Manager directly. Under Advanced Features, we found the AAM/APM Control console (with an Auto Adaptation option). We could also set up mail alerts, view the event log, and more. Under Health Status Settings, we could set Thresholds of Caution for our HDD's sector counts.
The program's system tray icon displays a selected disk's temperature and accesses a Collective Settings submenu that makes it easy to set common parameters such as Alarm Settings for temperature and Health Status. There's an excellent, fully indexed Help file, too. CrystalDiskInfo is a regular fixture in our PC toolbox.
Publisher's Description
From Crystal Dew World:
CrystalDiskInfo is a HDD health monitoring utility. It displays basic HDD information, monitors S.M.A.R.T. values, and disk temperature.
What's new in this version: Version 5.6.2 added new strings to language files and fixed List Control on High Contrast Mode.
More Products to Consider
- Clean up junk files and invalid Registry entries.Download
Installed
Smart Install - Keep your PC in tiptop shape and at peak performance.Download
Installed
Smart Install - Tune up and maintain your PC, clean registry easily.Download
Installed
Smart Install - Take full control over RAR and ZIP archives, along with unpacki...Download
Installed
Smart Install - Fix, speed up, maintain, and protect your PC.Download
Installed
Smart Install - Update PC drivers automatically using cloud technology.Download
Installed
Smart Install - Move, resize, copy, explore, and recover hard disk drive partit...Download
Installed
Smart Install - Take full control over RAR and ZIP archives, along with unpacki...Download
Installed
Smart Install - Display the read/write speed of your disk.Download
Installed
Smart Install - Configure and manage disk partitions, move, resize, copy and re...Download
Installed
Smart Install - Find and fix incorrect or obsolete information in the Windows r...Download
Installed
Smart Install - Download and update all your Windows drivers, back them up and ...Download
Installed
Smart Install - Monitor and analyze your hard disk status.Download
Installed
Smart Install - Scan junk files and delete these junk files in Windows system.Download
Installed
Smart Install - Display the read / write speed of your disk.Download
Installed
Smart Install - Zip and unzip files instantly, protect them by encryption, or b...Download
Installed
Smart Install - Defragment your disks and improve computer performance and stab...Download
Installed
Smart Install - Repair registry errors, remove "junk" files, and ensure your PC...Download
Installed
Smart Install - Analyze, size up, and report on the contents of your directory ...Download
Installed
Smart Install - Calculate and compare MD5 hash between your files.Download
Installed
Smart Install - View Hard Disk Drive information and monitor disk temperature.Download
Installed
Smart Install - Backup, protect, and recover important documents or files.Download
Installed
Smart Install - Create encrypted disk partitions.Download
This download is served from an external site
closeNOTICE: This link will open a connection to a third-party site. CNET cannot ensure the security of software that is hosted on external sites.
Sponsored Products
Installed
Smart Install - Create a copy of your Windows 7 ISO file on removable media.Download
Installed
Smart Install
-
All versions:
3.7 starsout of 32 votes
-
Current version:
1.0 starsout of 1 votes
-
My rating:
Write review
Results 1-1 of 1
-
"Main purpose is to install other software"
Version: CrystalDiskInfo 5.6.2
Pros
It can display some neat hard drive info.
Cons
It installs OpenCandy, AVG Search Toolbar, Amazon search, and sets Amazon as your default page.
Uninstalling AVG Search Toolbar takes uninstalling from browser, several browser restarts, and uninstalling from Control Panel. There is no option to not install it.
Amazon Search gives you an option to not install it.
OpenCandy - no option to not install, and I'm not sure how to uninstall.Summary
Main purpose is to install other software. I would classify this as Spam/Trojan Horse. There are other utilities that won't sell you out and are still free.
Results 1-1 of 1




