GSmartControl vs HDDScan
GSmartControl
gsmartcontrol.shaduri.dev
HDDScan
hddscan.comSide by side
| Figure | GSmartControl | HDDScan |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Hardware Diagnostic Software | 8.4 (#2) | 7.5 (#15) |
| Spec score · Disk Diagnostic Software | 8.4 (#3) | 7.4 (#18) |
| Spec score · Disk Health Monitoring Software | 8.4 (#4) | 7.4 (#20) |
| Drive controls | Users can enable or disable SMART and configure global and per-drive smartctl options. | For supported drives, it can change AAM, APM, and PM settings and start or stop the spindle. |
| Purpose | GSmartControl is a graphical interface for smartctl that lets users inspect SMART data and run drive tests. | HDDScan is freeware for diagnosing hard drives, RAID arrays, USB flash drives, and SSDs. |
| Support | Users are directed to report bugs through the GitHub issue tracker after consulting the troubleshooting page. | The download page lists [email protected] as the contact email. |
Plans
In their own words
GSmartControl
GSmartControl is a graphical interface for smartctl, used to inspect drive SMART data and run tests. It displays drive identity, capabilities, attributes and device statistics, and automatically highlights anomalies. Users can enable or disable SMART and adjust global or per-drive smartctl options. Saved smartctl output can be opened as a read-only virtual device. The software supports ATA drives, including SATA and PATA, and NVMe drives, plus some devices behind USB bridges and selected RAID controllers. SCSI and SAS drives are not supported, though some information about them may appear. GSmartControl is free software under the GNU General Public License version 3. Downloads include Linux packages, Windows installers and portable archives, FreeBSD ports, macOS packages and source code. smartmontools is a runtime requirement, but official Windows packages include the required software. Useful operations require root or Administrator privileges because operating systems restrict direct hardware access. Supported systems listed include Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, DragonFlyBSD, macOS and Solaris; QNX support is described as untested.
HDDScan
HDDScan is freeware for diagnosing hard drives, RAID arrays, USB flash drives and SSDs on Windows. Its tests include linear verification, reading, erasing and Butterfly-mode reading. For supported drives, it reads and analyzes SMART parameters, runs SMART tests and monitors temperature across ATA, SATA, USB, FireWire and SCSI connections. Compatible drives may expose AAM, APM and PM controls, plus spindle start and stop commands. Reports can be printed or saved in MHT format. Command-line use can save generated commands as `.cmd` or `.bat` files. Listed requirements run from Windows XP SP3 through Windows 10, with Windows Server 2003 subject to restrictions. The plan is free. RAID volumes and USB flash drives support surface tests only, and USB capabilities depend on program support. Only one test should run at a time. Erase mode overwrites tested blocks, making previous data unrecoverable.