# Smartmontools > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Smartmontools > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Smartmontools.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartmontools > Source revision: 1329883513 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Set of computer storage utility programs}} {{use dmy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Lowercase title}} {{Infobox software | name = smartmontools | logo = | screenshot = | caption = | collapsible = | author = | developer = [Bruce Allen](/source/Bruce_Allen_(physicist)), Christian Franke, Guido Guenther{{Cite web|url=https://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/ |title=smartmontools wiki |accessdate=2017-11-28}} | released = {{start date|2002|10}} | discontinued = | latest release version = 7.5[https://www.smartmontools.org/ Official website] | latest release date = {{Start date and age|2025|04|30}} | latest preview version = | latest preview date = | programming language = [C](/source/C_(programming_language)), [C++](/source/C%2B%2B) | operating system = [Unix-like](/source/Unix-like) ([Linux](/source/Linux), [Mac OS X](/source/Mac_OS_X), [BSD](/source/BSD), others) and [Microsoft Windows](/source/Microsoft_Windows) | platform = | size = 1.3 MB | language = | status = | genre = Hard Disk utility | license = [GNU GPL](/source/GNU_GPL) | website = {{URL|https://www.smartmontools.org/}} }}__NOTOC__ '''smartmontools''' ('''S.M.A.R.T. Monitoring Tools''') is a set of [utility program](/source/utility_program)s (''smartctl'' and ''smartd'') to control and monitor [computer](/source/computer) [storage](/source/Mass_storage) systems using the [Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology](/source/Self-Monitoring%2C_Analysis_and_Reporting_Technology) (S.M.A.R.T.) system built into most modern [(P)ATA](/source/Parallel_ATA), [Serial ATA](/source/SATA), [SCSI](/source/SCSI)/[SAS](/source/Serial_Attached_SCSI) and [NVMe](/source/NVMe) [hard drive](/source/hard_drive)s.{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iAh6mU_sjgsC&pg=PA346|title=Linux Server Hacks, Volume Two |chapter=Hack 78: Avoid Catastrophic Disk Failure |first1= William |last1=von Hagen |first2=Brian K. |last2=Jones |pages=346–350 |publisher= O'Reilly Media, Inc. |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-596-10082-7}} via Google Books{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rgFIAnLjb1wC&pg=PT366 |title=Unix and Linux System Administration Handbook |first1=Evi |last1=Nemeth |first2=Garth |last2=Snyder |first3=Trent R. |last3=Hein |first4=Ben |last4=Whaley |publisher=Pearson Education |year=2010 |page=366 |isbn=9780132117364 }} 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.{{Cite web|url=http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6983 |title=Monitoring Hard Disks with SMART |publisher=[Linux Journal](/source/Linux_Journal) |date=2004-01-01 |accessdate=2010-07-26 |authorlink=Bruce Allen (physicist)|first=Bruce|last= Allen }} From late 2010 [ATA Error Recovery Control](/source/Time-Limited_Error_Recovery) configuration has been supported by smartmontools, allowing it to configure many [desktop](/source/Desktop_computer)-and [laptop](/source/Laptop_computer)-class hard drives for use in a [RAID](/source/RAID) array and ''vice versa''.{{cite web |url=http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~greg/projects/erc/ |first=Richard |last=Gregory |title=Error recovery control with smartmontools |publisher=[Liverpool University](/source/Liverpool_University) Department of Computer Science |accessdate=2013-11-26 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928190045/http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~greg/projects/erc/ |archivedate=2011-09-28 }} Most [Linux distributions](/source/Linux_distributions) provide the smartmontools package.{{Cite web |url=http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/opensource/?p=1389 |title=Using smartctl to get SMART status information on your hard drives |publisher=[TechRepublic](/source/TechRepublic) |date=2010-03-30 |first=Vincent |last=Danen |accessdate=2010-07-26 |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120707014133/http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/opensource/using-smartctl-to-get-smart-status-information-on-your-hard-drives/1389 |archivedate=2012-07-07 |url-status=dead }} ==User interface== ===Native=== ''smartctl'' and ''smartd'' have a [command-line interface](/source/command-line_interface). 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=== *[https://gsmartcontrol.sourceforge.io GSmartControl] is an [open-source](/source/open-source_software) [multi-platform](/source/multi-platform) [graphical user interface](/source/graphical_user_interface) (GUI) for smartctl developed by Alexander Shaduri.{{Cite web|url=http://www.linuxinsight.com/how-smart-are-your-disks.html |title=How S.M.A.R.T. are your disks? |publisher=LinuxInsight |date=2009-02-08 |accessdate=2010-07-26}} * ''SMART Utility'' is a program for Mac OS X with a GUI based on ''smartmontools''.{{Cite web|url=https://www.pcworld.com/article/174687/smart_utility_monitors_hard_drives_health.html |title=SMART Utility Monitors Hard Drives' Health |first=Dan |last=Frakes |publisher=[PC World](/source/PC_World_(magazine)) |date=2009-10-29 |accessdate=2010-07-26}}{{dead link|date=December 2023}} *''HDD Guardian'' was an open-source Windows-only GUI for smartctl,{{cite web|url=https://hddguardian.codeplex.com/|title=HDD Guardian 0.7.1 (archived)|website=hddguardian.codeplex.com|date=5 January 2017|accessdate=14 May 2017|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170108190610/https://hddguardian.codeplex.com/|archivedate=8 January 2017}} 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.{{cite web |url=https://hddguardian.codeplex.com/ |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170514213433/http://hddguardian.codeplex.com/|archivedate=14 May 2017|url-status=dead|title=HDD Guardian - Home |website=hddguardian.codeplex.com|date=28 April 2017|accessdate= 14 May 2017}} ==See also== {{Portal|Free and open-source software}} * [System monitor](/source/System_monitor) * [Comparison of S.M.A.R.T. tools](/source/Comparison_of_S.M.A.R.T._tools) ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== * [https://www.smartmontools.org/ Official website] * [https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Smartmontools smartmontools on Ubuntu Wiki] * [https://github.com/linuxhw/SMART Large collection of smartctl reports for various hard drives] Category:Free software programmed in C Category:Hard disk software Category:Software using the GNU General Public License {{Free-software-stub}} --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Smartmontools](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartmontools) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartmontools?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.