Smartmontools is a collection of utilities for monitoring and controlling storage devices using Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART). It supports a wide range of ATA, SATA, SCSI and NVMe drives, providing valuable information about device health and reliability.
The package contains two principal programs: smartctl, a command-line utility for examining drives and running diagnostic operations, and smartd, a monitoring daemon that periodically checks devices for potential problems.
Smartmontools can help identify warning signs such as media errors, failed self-tests, unusual temperatures and deteriorating health indicators. These measurements are useful for preventative maintenance, although they cannot guarantee that an impending drive failure will be detected.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- SMART monitoring – examine supported device health indicators and reliability information.
- Drive identification – display model, serial number, firmware, capabilities and supported features.
- Self-tests – initiate and inspect short, extended and other supported drive diagnostic tests.
- Error reporting – retrieve device error logs, self-test histories and additional diagnostic information.
- NVMe support – inspect controller health information, endurance indicators, temperatures and media errors.
- Background monitoring – use smartd to check devices automatically at configured intervals.
- Notifications – report health changes, failed checks and other warning conditions through system logging and notifications.
- Device database – interpret vendor-specific SMART attributes using an extensible drive database.
- JSON output – export structured diagnostic information for processing by scripts and monitoring software.
- Device configuration – manage supported SMART options and selected drive settings.
- Scheduled testing – configure recurring self-tests and monitoring rules.
- Cross-platform support – runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows.
Website: www.smartmontools.org
Support:
Developer: Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, Guido Guenther
License: GNU General Public License v2.0
smartmontools is written in C++. Learn C++ with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Handy Hard Disk Utilities | |
|---|---|
| NVMe-CLI | NVM-Express user space tooling |
| Smartmontools | Control and monitor storage systems using S.M.A.R.T. |
| scrutiny | WebUI for smartd S.M.A.R.T monitoring |
| openSeaChest | Perform various operations on SATA, SAS, NVMe, and USB storage devices |
| GSmartControl | Graphical user interface for smartctl |
| hdparm | Tune hard disk parameters for high performance |
| sg3_utils | Utilities that send SCSI commands to devices |
| sdparm | Accesses SCSI device parameters |
| nwipe | Secure disk eraser |
| Bonnie++ | Toolkit for testing hard drive and file system performance |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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