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SMART Utility
What SMART Utility is
SMART Utility is a macOS application that reads hard-drive SMART attributes, displays drive health details, and runs built-in self-tests. It supports HDDs and SSDs, with limited external-drive support. The app shows model, capacity, power-on hours, temperature, bad-sector counts, error counts, and error types. Its internal algorithm looks for warning signs before a drive’s overall SMART status reports failure, although the maker says false positives can occur. Background scanning, menu-bar information, Growl notifications, configured email alerts, logging, saved reports, and printing are supported. SMART Utility can scan OS X software RAID drives and drives in many RAID enclosures and cards. Some external drives need the optional SAT SMART driver, while some enclosures do not expose required SMART commands. The software parses smartmontools output. It has no free plan, but a free trial is available, with licenses starting at $25, paid once.
Who it suits
It suits Mac users who want local drive-health details, warning alerts, self-tests, and saved reports. It is also relevant for users monitoring software RAID or supported RAID enclosures.
What it does well
- Reads HDD and SSD SMART attributes
- Runs built-in drive self-tests
- Background scanning and menu-bar information
- Supports reports, logging, and printing
- Failure-warning algorithm checks early signs
What to know first
- External-drive support is limited
- Some drives require the optional SAT SMART driver
- False positives can occur
- macOS only
Plans
| Plan | Billed and limits | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Business license | Business license | $100, paid once |
| Personal license | Personal license | $25, paid once |
| Consultant license | Consultant license | $350, paid once |
| Family license | Family license | $40, paid once |
| Educational site license | Educational site license | $65, paid once |
As volitans-software.com lists them, read 11 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word.
Verdict
SMART Utility provides detailed SMART monitoring, alerts, self-tests, and reporting on macOS. External-drive compatibility varies, and its warning algorithm can occasionally report a false positive.
Facts from SMART Utility's own pages
- Company
- Volitans Software was founded by Matthew J. Butch on February 22, 2007, and operates from Pennsylvania. · volitans-software.com, 11 Oct 2026
- Compatibility
- The product page lists support for OS X 10.9 through 10.15, while its current download link is labeled for versions 10.9 to 26.0. · volitans-software.com, 11 Oct 2026
- Drive details
- It displays drive model, capacity, power-on hours, temperature, bad-sector counts, error counts, and error types. · volitans-software.com, 11 Oct 2026
- Drive support
- The app supports HDDs and SSDs, and has limited support for external drives. · volitans-software.com, 11 Oct 2026
- Early warning
- Its internal algorithm analyzes drive attributes to detect potential failure before the drive’s overall SMART status indicates failure. · volitans-software.com, 11 Oct 2026
- External drive limit
- Some external drives require the optional SAT SMART driver, and some enclosures do not expose the commands needed to read SMART data. · volitans-software.com, 11 Oct 2026
- False positives
- The maker says its failing-drive algorithm is usually accurate but can sometimes produce false positives. · volitans-software.com, 11 Oct 2026
- Monitoring
- It supports background scanning and can show drive information in the menu bar. · volitans-software.com, 11 Oct 2026
- Notifications
- It supports Growl notifications when installed and email notifications when configured. · volitans-software.com, 11 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- SMART Utility reads and displays hard drive SMART attributes and can run a drive’s built-in self-test. · volitans-software.com, 11 Oct 2026
- RAID support
- It supports scanning OS X software RAID drives and drives in many RAID enclosures and cards. · volitans-software.com, 11 Oct 2026
- Reports
- Users can log drive information, save reports for later viewing, and print reports. · volitans-software.com, 11 Oct 2026
- Support
- The maker offers support by email or Twitter and provides a SMART Utility FAQ. · volitans-software.com, 11 Oct 2026
- Underlying technology
- SMART Utility parses output from the open-source smartmontools package, which performs the SMART attribute scanning. · volitans-software.com, 11 Oct 2026
Where SMART Utility stands on Freedom251
- Disk Health Monitoring Software#26 of 28