How to Check What Hard Drive or SSD You Have (Windows and Mac)

“What storage do I have on my PC?” is a simple question with a surprisingly buried answer. Windows and macOS both know the exact model, capacity, and type of every drive inside your computer, but they spread that information across several menus. Whether you need to know how to check what SSD you have before an upgrade, or just whether there’s a hard drive or an SSD inside, the methods below take a minute or two and don’t change anything on your system.

What you’re actually looking for

Four details answer most questions:

• Model name: for example “Samsung SSD 980 1TB” or “WDC WD10EZEX.” Searching the model tells you everything else.
• Capacity: the drive’s total size.
• Media type: SSD (flash memory) or HDD (spinning hard disk).
• Interface: NVMe (PCIe, usually an M.2 stick), SATA (2.5” or 3.5” drives, or some M.2 SSDs), or USB for external drives. Our NVMe vs SSD and what is SATA guides explain the differences.

What storage do I have on my PC? How to check in Windows

Task Manager (quickest for SSD vs HDD)

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc.
2. Open the Performance tab.
3. Click each Disk entry on the left.

The drive’s model name appears at the top right, and Windows 10 and 11 label each disk as SSD or HDD under its name. On Windows 11 it may also show the interface, such as NVMe or SATA. External USB drives show up here too.

Settings: Disks & volumes

On Windows 11, go to Settings → System → Storage → Advanced storage settings → Disks & volumes. Each physical disk is listed with its model, and Properties shows details such as media type and capacity. Windows 10 has a similar Manage Disks and Volumes page under Storage; the exact path varies by version.

Device Manager

Right-click Start, choose Device Manager, and expand Disk drives. You’ll see each drive’s model name. This doesn’t tell you SSD vs HDD directly, but searching the model will.

Optimize Drives

Search Start for Defragment and Optimize Drives. The Media type column says “Solid state drive” or “Hard disk drive” for each volume. It’s a handy cross-check.

PowerShell (most detail in one place)

Open PowerShell (no admin rights needed) and run:

Get-PhysicalDisk | Select FriendlyName, MediaType, BusType, Size

• FriendlyName is the model.
• MediaType reads SSD, HDD, or sometimes “Unspecified” (common with certain controllers or RAID/RST setups).
• BusType shows NVMe, SATA, USB, or RAID.
• Size is in bytes.

If MediaType or BusType says “RAID,” the drive is behind an Intel RST or VMD controller, which is common on laptops. Our AHCI vs RAID guide explains why.

System Information

Run msinfo32 and go to Components → Storage → Disks for model, capacity, and partition details.

How to check what SSD you have on a Mac

About This Mac

On recent macOS versions, open Apple menu → System Settings → General → Storage for capacity and usage, or Apple menu → About This Mac → More Info. On older versions, About This Mac → Storage shows the same thing. This gives size, but not the model.

System Information (model and interface)

1. Hold Option and click the Apple menu, then choose System Information.
2. Under Hardware, check NVMExpress first. Apple silicon Macs and most recent Intel Macs list their internal SSD here.
3. If nothing is there, check SATA (older Macs, including those with hard drives or Fusion Drives) and USB or Thunderbolt for external drives.

The entry shows the model, capacity, and a Medium Type of SSD or rotational on SATA drives.

Terminal

For a quick text answer:

diskutil info disk0 | grep -E "Device / Media Name|Solid State|Protocol|Disk Size"

“Solid State: Yes” means SSD. Change disk0 to another number from diskutil list to check other disks.

Linux, briefly

lsblk -d -o NAME,MODEL,SIZE,ROTA,TRAN

ROTA of 1 means a spinning hard drive; 0 means an SSD. TRAN shows sata, nvme or usb.

Why it matters, especially if something goes wrong

Knowing your drive type is more than trivia. It changes what to do when there’s a problem:

• SSD vs HDD affects recovery of deleted files. On most SSDs, Windows and macOS send TRIM commands that tell the drive to erase deleted blocks in the background. Deleted files on an SSD can become unrecoverable quickly, while a hard drive usually keeps them until they’re overwritten. See SSD vs HDD.
• Failure symptoms differ. Hard drives often click, grind or slow down before failing. SSDs tend to fail suddenly and silently, often by disappearing entirely. Our SSD failing signs guide covers what to watch for.
• Encryption matters. Many Windows 11 laptops encrypt the internal drive with BitLocker or device encryption, and Apple silicon and T2 Macs encrypt their internal SSD in hardware tied to that Mac. If you ever need to move the drive or recover data, know whether a key or password will be required.
• Upgrades and replacements. To buy a compatible replacement, you need the form factor (2.5”, 3.5”, M.2 2280 and so on) and the interface. Many Macs and some thin Windows laptops have storage soldered to the board, so there’s nothing to swap.

The bottom line

To check what drive you have in Windows, Task Manager’s Performance tab shows the model and SSD or HDD label in seconds, and Get-PhysicalDisk in PowerShell gives model, media type, interface and size together. On a Mac, System Information under NVMExpress or SATA lists the internal drive. Knowing whether it’s an SSD or hard drive, and whether it’s encrypted, makes a real difference if you ever lose data.

If a drive you’ve identified has stopped working, our hard drive recovery service can help. ClearQuote recovers single devices for one flat $1,200 price with free prepaid shipping, and you pay nothing unless we recover your data.