GSmartControl vs MemTest86+

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.

MemTest86+ is a free, open-source stand-alone memory tester for x86, x86-64, ARM AArch64, and LoongArch64 computers. It uses algorithms including moving inversions and Modulo-20 to detect memory failures and investigate crashes, freezes, or system instability. The tester can access almost all computer memory without operating-system memory or UEFI library restrictions. It can run from legacy or UEFI BIOS, through Linux boot protocols, or from a FAT32 USB flash drive, CD-ROM, or PXE network boot. For PXE, the project documents different binaries for BIOS and UEFI boot as iPXE or PXELINUX payloads. Testing continues indefinitely, with the pass counter advancing after all selected tests finish. The software is licensed under GNU GPL version 2, with no additional restrictions on private or commercial use. Stable and nightly binaries are available, though nightly builds are generated automatically and are untested and unsupported. Secure Boot must be temporarily disabled because the binary is not signed by Microsoft. USB drivers remain in progress, and not all USB devices are supported.