__NOTOC__ Smartmontools (S.M.A.R.T. Monitoring Tools) is a set of

utility program Utility software is software designed to help analyze, configure, optimize or maintain a computer. It is used to support the computer infrastructure - in contrast to application software, which is aimed at directly performing tasks that benefit ord ...

s (''smartctl'' and ''smartd'') to control and monitor

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...

storage systems using the

Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T., often written as SMART) is a monitoring system included in computer hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs). Its primary function is to detect and report various indicat ...

(S.M.A.R.T.) system built into most modern (P)ATA,

Serial ATA SATA (Serial AT Attachment) is a computer bus interface that connects host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives, optical drives, and solid-state drives. Serial ATA succeeded the earlier Parallel ATA (PATA) standard t ...

SCSI Small Computer System Interface (SCSI, ) is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, electrical, optical and logical interface ...

/ SAS and

NVMe NVM Express (NVMe) or Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller Interface Specification (NVMHCIS) is an open, logical-device interface specification for accessing a computer's non-volatile storage media usually attached via PCI Express (PCIe) bus. The ...

hard drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magnet ...

s. via Google Books Smartmontools displays early warning signs of hard drive problems detected by S.M.A.R.T., often giving notice of impending failure while it is still possible to back data up. From late 2010 ATA Error Recovery Control configuration has been supported by Smartmontools, allowing it to configure many

desktop A desktop traditionally refers to: * The surface of a desk (often to distinguish office appliances that fit on a desk, such as photocopiers and printers, from larger equipment covering its own area on the floor) Desktop may refer to various compu ...

-and

laptop A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...

-class hard drives for use in a

RAID Raid, RAID or Raids may refer to: Attack * Raid (military), a sudden attack behind the enemy's lines without the intention of holding ground * Corporate raid, a type of hostile takeover in business * Panty raid, a prankish raid by male college ...

array and ''vice versa''. Most

Linux distributions A Linux distribution (often abbreviated as distro) is an operating system made from a software collection that includes the Linux kernel and, often, a package management system. Linux users usually obtain their operating system by downloading one ...

provide the smartmontools package.

User interface

Native

''smartctl'' and ''smartd'' have a

command-line interface A command-line interpreter or command-line processor uses a command-line interface (CLI) to receive commands from a user in the form of lines of text. This provides a means of setting parameters for the environment, invoking executables and pro ...

. By default the output of ''smartctl'' is in human readable form; to aid logic trying to parse this output, JSON output is also available.

Third-party GUI

GSmartControl
is an

open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

multi-platform In computing, cross-platform software (also called multi-platform software, platform-agnostic software, or platform-independent software) is computer software that is designed to work in several computing platforms. Some cross-platform software ...

graphical user interface The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...

(GUI) for smartctl developed by Alexander Shaduri. * ''SMART Utility'' is a program for Mac OS X with a GUI based on ''smartmontools''. *''HDD Guardian'' was an open-source Windows-only GUI for smartctl, discontinued on 28 April 2017. The author said that the program could still be downloaded from various sites, but that the entire HDD Guardian project (source code, builds and documentation) had been retired.

References

External links

Official website
The domain has expired
Smartmontools on Ubuntu Wiki

Large collection of smartctl reports for various hard drives
Free software programmed in C Hard disk software {{Free-software-stub

User interface

Native

Third-party GUI

See also

References

External links