Check Drive Type in Windows – HDD or SSD?

Check Drive Type in Windows OS

Although, this article is written specifically to identify the media drive type. In other words, how to check drive type in Windows operating system.

Drive type means that your system is using HDD (Hard disk drive) or SSD (Solid-state drive). We cannot think for a computer without a storage drive.

HDD or SSD is basically a storage drive, which is one of the major parts of computer components. It plays an important role in your desktop or in a laptop.

[Read: Major Computer Components with Images and their Functions]

A computer machine requires a space where an operating system can be installed.

The operating system can be any like Windows, MacOS, Linux, etc. They all need a storage.

Once the operating system is installed, you can access a number of features of it. Along with, you can save your files and folders, videos and music files, documents, etc. into the storage drive which is a hard drive.

Difference Between HDD and SSD

To clarify what HDD and SSD is? You should know what is the difference between HDD and SSD before you get to know your system drive type:

HDD – A hard disk drive is a physical component of computer assembly and a storage drive, also known as hard disk or hard drive. It is directly connected to the Motherboard using cables such as ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) or SATA (serial AT attachment)

Hard disk contains platters inside it with an air sealed casing. It has a magnetic head, which keep moving rapidly and data is written to the platters using a magnetic head.

SSD – A Solid-state drive is also a storage drive such as HDD. It is small in size, uses chips and has no moving platters or elements.

This provides an advantage, which makes it faster, low power consumption, reliability and noiseless function. SSD also uses SATA cable to connect directly to the system motherboard.

How to Find If Your Drive is HDD or SSD?

Here are the four different methods by which you can easily check whether your drive type is HDD or SSD:

Disk Defragmenter
System Information Tool
Windows PowerShell
Windows Task Manager

Method 1. Using Disk Defragmenter

Press Keyboard combination Win + R to open Run Dialog box
Type dfrgui and hit Enter button or click OK. This will launch Optimize Drives window
Under Status, check Media type is Hard disk drive or Solid-state drive

In my case, its Hard disk drive. Check below image:

Method 2. By Using System Information Tool

1. Press Win + R to open Run Dialog box
2. Type msinfo32 and hit Enter or click OK

In system Information utility window, navigate to Components –> Storage –> Disks
From the right pane, look for Media Type. In my case, it is shown as Fixed hard drive.

Fixed hard drive means HDD (Hard disk drive)

Method 3. By using Windows PowerShell

Go to Windows Search and type, PowerShell
Right-click and select Run as administrator
Type or copy and paste below command to the PowerShell. Then, hit Enter and wait for the result.

Get-PhysicalDisk

Check for Media Type to check drive type of your system. In my case, it’s the HDD.

Method 4. From Windows Task Manager

Open your Windows Task Manager
Click on Performance tab
Select Disk from the left pane

Check disk information from the right and you will find the drive type of your system and related information.

[Read: Open Windows Task Manager with 9 Different Ways]

Hence, all above are the very easy methods to check what drive you have on your Windows computer. Any of above method will help you to determine the type of your hard drive is HDD or SSD.