Comparison of S.M.A.R.T. tools

This is a list of software that reads S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) data from hard drives.

	Operating system	License, price	User interface	Drive interface, RAID support	Shows S.M.A.R.T. attributes	Self testing	Notification	Notes
Acronis Drive Monitor	Windows	Proprietary, free	GUI	(S)ATA, USB	Yes	No	By system tray notification, email	Estimate health percentage, and use Windows Event Log events (which may be related to risk of data loss). Can trigger automatic backup on S.M.A.R.T. alert when combined with Acronis backup software.
Active SMART (by Ariolic software)	Windows	Proprietary, 29$	GUI	(S)ATA, USB	Yes	Yes	Yes.
ArgusMonitor	Windows	Proprietary, €14,95 or $19.95, 30 days trial	GUI	(S)ATA, USB, some RAID controllers	Yes	No	By window, sound, email, program execution at choosable parameter changes, threshold	Also shows temperature of CPU, GPU and CPU core speed and Intel Turbo Boost status, system fan speeds and can control speed of GPU and system fans.
Ashampoo HDD Control 2	Windows	Proprietary, $24.99, 40 days trial	GUI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Window, tray icon and publish to web page.	Also provides various hard disk management features
CornerBowl Disk Monitor	Windows	Proprietary, varies, 20 days trial	GUI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Window, email alerts, publish to web page, and launch program.
CrystalDiskInfo[1]	Windows (2000(x86); Server 2008, Server 2003, 7, Vista, XP(x86/x86-64))	Open source (Modified BSD license), free	GUI	IDE, PATA, SATA (only Internal), USB (partial), some RAID (including some Nvidia)	Yes	No	Resident & Alarm; Temperature(color code); Sector Count Threshold(Reallocated, Current Pending, Uncorrectable); Total Erase Count(only SSD)	Changeable threshold values (only Sector Count params), APM/AAM control; Event Log; Custom themes (using HTML/CSS)
Disk Utility	Mac OS X	Proprietary	GUI	?	No, although a combined 'status' is available[2]	?		part of Mac OS X
EASIS Drive Check	Windows	Freeware	GUI	(S)ATA, USB	Yes	No	Surface test results can send by email	Allows hard copies of current values, supports surface read test to check for sector errors
GSmartControl[3]	Unix-like (Linux, Mac OS X, *BSD, others) and Windows	GNU GPL v2 and v3, free	GUI[4]	(S)ATA, most USB, RAID (3ware)	Yes	Yes	window, displays drive identity information, capabilities, attributes, and self-test/error logs	Has extensive help information
HD Sentinel	Windows, Linux	Proprietary, 18 EUR (Std) / 28 EUR (Pro), Trial	GUI	IDE(PATA) and SATA; USB (partial); some RAID controllers	Yes	Yes	Resident & Alarm; Temperature(color code); Sector Count Threshold(Reallocated, Current Pending, Uncorrectable); Total Erase Count(only SSD)	Individual configuration for every medium, Interface for Disc Doktor/chkdsk: surface testing, complete testing at restart
HD Tune	Windows	Proprietary, free for personal use	GUI	IDE(PATA) and SATA (only Internal); USB (partial)	Yes	No	No (v2.55)	v2.55 gives SMART values but no advice.
HD Tune Pro	Windows	Proprietary, $34.95 or €24.95	GUI and CLI	(S)ATA	Yes	No	No (v4.60)	Give advice. Individual configuration for every medium, Interface for Disc Doktor/chkdsk: surface testing, complete testing at restart.
Microsoft Office 2007 Diagnostic Tool	Windows	Proprietary	GUI	?	No	No	No
Palimpsest Disk Utility	Linux	LGPL	GUI	?	Yes	Yes	GNOME pop-up notification
Passmark disk checkup	Windows	Proprietary, 15 $, Freeware for personal use	GUI	?	Yes	Yes	Yes (by email)
PC Wizard	Windows	Proprietary, Freeware (donation)	GUI	?	Yes	No	No	Estimate health and performance by percentage.
SIW (System information for Windows)	Windows	Proprietary, Pro : $69.95, Freeware	GUI, Command-line interface	?	Yes	No	?	A tool that gathers detailed information about your system properties and settings and displays it in an comprehensible manner.
smartmontools[5]	Unix-like (Linux, Mac OS X, *BSD, others) and Windows	GNU GPL v2, free	Command-line interface	All for Linux, some for other Unix-like	Yes	Yes	window, sound, email, program execution at choosable parameter changes, threshold	LiveCDs are available for download, allowing the user to use smartmontools without any changes to the computer.
SMARTReporter	Mac OS X	Open source, freeware	GUI	ATA, SATA or eSATA	Yes	Yes	Yes	Work on Mac OS X 10.5+
SMART Utility	Mac OS X	Proprietary, $25	GUI	ATA, SATA or eSATA	Yes	Yes	Growl popups, menu item	Based on smartmontools, proprietary pre-fail algorithm
Speccy	Windows	Proprietary, Freeware	GUI	?	Yes	No	No
SpeedFan	Windows	Proprietary, Freeware	GUI	(S)ATA, SCSI, SAT; Areca, 3ware	Yes	Yes	Window, sound, e-mail, running a command; at parameter changes, threshold, temperature	Estimate health and performance by percentage, and offers online drive analysis (and compares from other users).
Spinrite	DOS, FreeDOS	Proprietary USD $89 Full / $29 upgrade	GUI	?	Yes[6]	Yes	No

References

1. ^ "Freebie CrystalDiskInfo Is S.M.A.R.T. About Hard Drives". PC World. 2010-01-21. http://www.pcworld.com/article/185974/freebie_crystaldiskinfo_is_smart_about_hard_drives.html. Retrieved 2010-07-06. 
2. ^ http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=DiskUtility/10.5/en/duh1896.html
3. ^ "How S.M.A.R.T. are your disks?". LinuxInsight. 2009-02-08. http://www.linuxinsight.com/how-smart-are-your-disks.html. Retrieved 2010-07-06. 
4. ^ frontend for smartmontools
5. ^ "Monitoring Hard Disks with SMART". Linux Journal. 2004-01-01. http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6983. Retrieved 2010-07-06. 
6. ^ "SATA Operation with SpinRite", Gibson Research Corporation, accessed March 4, 2011.