GSmartControl

GSmartControl is a hard disk diagnose and performance analysis application that can evaluate the health of the storage system and predict possible future failures, in the attempt to prevent data loss.

The application is actually a graphical frontend for the Smartmontools console-based application and relies on the SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) parameters in order to assess the reliability and stability of the hard drive. Its compatibility range includes PATA and SATA drives, USB to ATA bridges and other types of storage mediums.

GSmartControl automatically identifies and displays all the hard drives your computer is equipped with (SMART-capable or not) and retrieves detailed information about the device model, the serial number, firmware version, storage capacity, ATA version and other data. In case a disk fails to be detected, you can manually add it to the list by specifying its name, type and the Smartctl parameters.

Following a fast analysis process, the SMART attributes are displayed, along with the threshold values and diagnostics data. You can view the raw, worst and normal value for each parameter and save the report locally.

GSmartControl can also run various tests on the hard drive in the attempt to determine fault conditions. For higher speed, it is advisable that you don't use the computer while the tests are performed. There are three choices that you can opt for, each containing test routines to identify damaged sectors and examine the disk surface.

Aside from retrieving a complete specification report about your hard drives, GSmartControl is a handy diagnostics utility that can be used for evaluating the reliability of the storage medium. It can return complete error logs in order to predict possible drive failures.