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 It also hasn't been updated for over a year (and is using an out of date version of smartctl).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)

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)

APPLE4EVER  Just an update, this freeze should be fixed in version 1.0.3. Thanks!  
(Version 1.0.3)

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)

APPLE4EVER  Please download version 1.0.3. It fixes a (stupid) bug in 1.0.2 exposed on Intel systems. (For those who understand, I released an object outside of an if statement where it was allocated. IE, not all the time would it be allocated, and not all the time would the OS care.)  
(Version 1.0.2)

APPLE4EVER  Yes, there is a bug with Intel machines. But don't rely on SMARTReporter- it does not have the deep drive inspection that SMART Utility has. SMARTReporter can report "PASSED" up until the drive dies, while SMART Utility will report "FAILING" before the drive dies, allowing backing up of important data.  
(Version 1.0.2)

APPLE4EVER  Can you type the following into terminal:

defaults write com.volitans-software.SMARTUtility OutputDebugMessages 1

This will turn on debugging messages. Then can you send me the file SMART Utility.log in ~/Library/Logs as well as console.log? That way I can see what is happening. Thanks!  
(Version 1.0.1)

APPLE4EVER  Thank you for purchasing SMART Utility. Version 1.0.1 should fix your hanging issues.   
(Version 1.0.1)

APPLE4EVER  Sorry, if you redownload the beta, it will last until the 15th. I should have given myself some leeway to get the new version out.   
(Version 1.0.0B1)

APPLE4EVER  Yes, I understand that a few bad blocks doesn't necessarily mean that the drive will fail soon. But like I said, in my experience, it will fail eventually. My application just makes an assessment based on the SMART data, and makes a suggestion from that. You are of course free to take a chance. I leave what to do with the drive up to user. But I personally would get the drive replaced- just to be sure.

But thank you for raising this important point.  
(Version 1.0.0B1)

APPLE4EVER  This is a known bug. If you would be willing to contact me at support@volitans-software.com, I would like to get a better idea of why it is happening. I have a theory, but I would like more information to be sure.

Thank you for your interest!  
(Version 1.0.0B1)

APPLE4EVER  ELIJAHG3:

"From the read me:

"If it says FAILING, it will probably die soon"

Based on bad blocks, this is NOT the case. There are billions of blocks on hard disks, and having a few go wrong is not an indication of it's impeding failure."

Based on my experience repairing over 3000 Macs as an Apple Certified Desktop and Portable Technician, having any bad blocks to indicate that the HD will fail. It may not be immediately, it may not be for months, but eventually it will fail. I've tried forcing the drive to reallocate the blocks, and sometimes it does. But then more will appear, and then more, and then eventually no data will be recoverable.

My customers are happy when the come in and are experiencing problems (spinning wheels/freezing), and I find its just a bad HD, and I caught it early enough to save most, if not all of their data.

All drive manufacturers will take back drives with bad sectors- even just a few. If the Mac is still under warranty, Apple will also replace the drive. You may take the chance, but I'd rather be safe than sorry when it comes to my data.

I hope that clears up why its reporting as FAILING.   
(Version 1.0.0B1)