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DESCRIPTION
SMART Utility is an application to scan the internal hardware diagnostics system of hard drives. SMART (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) is a system built into hard drives by their manufacturers to report on various measurements (called attributes) of a hard drive's operation. The attributes can be used to detect when a hard drive is having mechanical or electrical problems, and can indicate when the hard drive is dying. This allows time to hopefully backup, and then replace the drive.
Run this utility once a week or more to ensure your HD, and your data, are okay!
NOTE: The demo is runs for 30 days or 15 launches, whichever is longer.
WHAT'S NEW
Version 2.0.2:
- Added French localization for help
- Now main window refreshes when a test is complete
- Now shows serial number when attempting to register again
- Now updates registration menu depending on whether application is registered or not
- Fixed bug where unregistering would cause application to consider the demo period expired
- Fixed some memory leaks
- Fixed some incorrect texts in help
- Optimized debug log for faster output
- Optimized launching code
- Serial number is now in a separate file to allow deleting of preferences without losing registration information
REQUIREMENTS
Mac OS X 10.4.11, or Mac OS X 10.5 or later
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SCREENSHOT
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| SMART Utility User Reviews (15 posts) | Write A Review |
 | Jun 23 2009 |
SHMK This program says by day old drive has all sorts of Old age issues
(Version 2.0.2) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| May 5 2009 |
FORMICA People, this is not a new concept, it has been around and currently exists in around 45 pieces of software. Apple hasn't implemented it because it's largely useless. It's in DiskWarrior, TechTool Pro, DriveGenius, and pretty much every other disk utility. But it doesn't tell you anything's wrong with your drive until the moment it dies. It's crap.
(Version 2.0.1) | |
| [ 5 Replies - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| May 5 2009 |
MISHA "But it doesn't tell you anything's wrong with your drive until the moment it dies. It's crap." That's not true -- I've had other utilities alert me of S.M.A.R.T. failures prior to a drive dying, which gave me time to copy the data off of it. The attributes S.M.A.R.T. monitors are pretty thorough, see here. No, it won't help if your drive suffers a sudden catastrophic failure, but it has its place.
(Version 2.0.1) | |
| May 5 2009 |
ILGAZ congrats on calling smart information and drive tests useless, you must be the first on planet.
(Version 2.0.1) | |
| Jun 9 2009 |
KOSOVAR1 I've used SMART technology in all my desktop computers and my laptop for years and it has NEVER warned me of an impending failure. I've had five drives fail on me without warning (three firewire drives and two internal drives) and they were supposedly being "monitored" by SMART. I agree with the other commenters that SMART appears to be useless. I still use it (just in case it might work) in the form of the free SMARTReporter utility, but I'm sorry for the people who naively thought to pay $25 for this SMART Utility, apparently a lame one-trick pony. If you want to use this, at least use a free version of a SMART utility or buy it as part of a useful product. (For example, DiskWarrior and Drive Genius are GREAT products!)
(Version 2.0.2) | |
| Jun 9 2009 |
GUILLAUMEK I disagree SMART is useless. True I've had many disks fail without prior warning. But twice I had time to backup before disk fail thanks to a SMART alert. This was on PCs, with BIOS set to test SMART at startup. It only takes one to realize just how much SMART is useful. Last point, SMARTReporter is free and a very good job of periodically checking SMART status and informing the user whenever an error is reported.
(Version 2.0.2) | |
 | Jun 19 2009 |
APPLE4EVER I understand a lot of people have not had good results with SMART. That's because most use utilities like Disk Utility, SMARTReporter, and DiskWarrior that only report on the overall SMART status. I find that status quite misleading too. That is why I developed SMART Utility. It looks at the individual attributes to find indications of failure. I have had a lot of success using that to determine drive failures that at first just look like a slow computer. An example is my work MacBook Pro. I kept getting the spinning wheel and found I had a few bad sectors. So I backed up, zeroed out the drive, and restored. I was back running. But what happened a few months later? More spinning wheels, more bad sectors and eventually the drive was useless. But since I was running SMART Utility, I knew to back up my data before I lost anything. So I find SMART is quite useful, and I am currently working on making the app even more useful, such as periodic scans to alert for new errors or problems. I would encourage everybody to try it out over a few months- especially if they are having problems. They may just save their data.
(Version 2.0.2) | |
 | May 5 2009 |
CUCHULAINN Mac Pro, 4 hard drives all less than 6 months old. 3 Seagate / 1 Western Digital. Smart Utility reports 3 out of 4 hard drives are failing. Guess which 3? Yep, all 3 Seagate drives are failing according to Smart Utility. I suspect a bug in the algorithm reporting false positives for bad blocks for these drives. 1 Seagate ST31000340AS and 2 X Seagate ST3750640AS if it matters to anyone. Tech Tools Pro 5.0.4 reports no errors on any drives for SMART check or Surface Scan. SMART reporter also reports no problems. Hooked them up to a Windows box, SeaTools also finds zero problems. I give it a 2 overall. Good in concept, poorly implemented.
(Version 2.0.1) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| Apr 29 2009 |
MARCO114 Works great. I am surprised Apple hasn't included this into the OS.
(Version 2.0) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| Mar 22 2009 |
DUBBELISH SMART Utility is better than both Disk Utility (which kept telling me my drive was fine even though OS was freezing while performing the scan) and it's also better than SMARTReporter (which is still giving me a positively verified drive sign up in the menu bar). I mean the nice little menu icon is great up there, don't get me wrong. But if the drive is failing and it doesn't tell you then what's the use. SMART Utility opened up and hit it clear as day: FAILING. Thanks for the nice software.
(Version 2.0) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
 | Jan 27 2009 |
BORLOX Anyone who uses this app should be aware that it tries to hide a timestamp in a preference file named "com.apple.services.plist", which is apparently supposed to look like a file created by the OS. It isn't.
(Version 2.0) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| Jul 31 2008 |
ERBEY I bought it but i don't use it any more i am not sure this soft is really working well
(Version 1.2.2) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| May 6 2008 |
NEIL_M This is quite funtional, but I am unsure why it is $20 better than these 2 freeware options; SMARTreporter (http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/14825/smartreporter) - sits in the menu, runs in the background, even emails you when a failure is detected. SMARTctl (http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/23777/smartctl) - sits in the menu and seems to give all the available SMART info.
(Version 1.2) | |
| [ 1 Reply - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| May 6 2008 |
APPLE4EVER NEIL_M: I can address that. SMARTreporter- while very good at what it does- can miss problems when they are small. It relies on the overall PASS/FAIL of SMART, which is very conservative and usually is only trigged when the drive is so bad it can't be even used. SMART Utility will alert you to failures before they get bad, allowing you to back up sooner and recover more data. SMARTctl does use the more extensive test- but it only displays everything in text format in a menu. SMART Utility displays all the data in a easy to read format, also highlights failing attributes in red, and provides an easy to read prefail warning in yellow or red. It also hasn't been updated for over a year (and is using an out of date version of smartctl). I hope that answers your questions and shows you why SMART Utility is worth the money.
(Version 1.2) | |
| Sep 23 2007 |
AKROBAT So, the developer informed me about the Intel bug, fixed it and I've given it another go. Seems fine. Perhaps it is more efficient than SMART Reporter but that is something that has to be tested on a failing drive with both systems up and running. I'd buy this IF it was made into a menubar item. Otherwise I know I'll forget to launch it and I've already far too many windows open and startup items already. All in all not a bad item, so I'll review my 'review'.
(Version 1.0.3) | |
| [ 1 Reply - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| Sep 25 2007 |
APPLE4EVER I'm glad you gave the software another shot. And yes, I agree, this would be awesome as a menu bar item. That's coming in a future version(which will be a free upgrade).
(Version 1.0.3) | |
| Sep 21 2007 |
WCITYMIKE SMARTReporter: free, MacUpdate profile not full of complaints. SMART Utility: $20, MacUpdate profile *is* full of complaints. Wonder which way I'll be going.
(Version 1.0.3) | |
| [ 1 Reply - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| Sep 21 2007 |
APPLE4EVER Yes, SMARTReporter is free. But SMART Utility offers additional functionality, including pre-failure warnings, that SMARTReporter does not offer. Whereas SMARTReporter can report PASSED until a drive dies, SMART Utility will report FAILING long before the drive dies, and long before SMARTReporter reports FAILED. Yes, there have been some bugs with SMART Utility- that is the case with any piece of software. But, if you look at the comments, you will see I am very quick to respond, and very quick to fix the bug. I always respond to complaints and comments within at least 24 hours, and usually within just a few hours. Have you even tried SMART Utility? Try it and find out the difference.
(Version 1.0.3) | |
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