Keep an Eye on Your Hard Disk's Health with GSmartControl
Productivity Sauce
SMART-capable hard disks are commonplace these days, and there are a few tools that can help you to use this technology to monitor the health of your hard disk. The smartmontools toolset, for example, lets you monitor and manage hard disks from the command line, while the GSmartControl utility can be used to keep a close eye on the hard disks. Despite its simple interface, GSmartControl is a rather capable tool that automatically reports and highlights any anomalies, performs short self-checks every four hours, and provides comprehensive info about the hard disks and their capabilities.
The best part is that GSmartControl makes it supremely easy to monitor your hard disk's health. When you launch the utility, it shows all the detected hard disks. Select the disk you want, and your should see the disk's health status in the Basic health check section. To access other GSmartControl features, double-click on the hard disk icon. This opens the Device Information window containing a wealth of information and additional features. The Perform Tests section, for example, lets you run short and extended hard disk tests, while the Attributes section provides an overview of the hard disk parameters and their current status. GSmartControl provides an extensive online help, so to view a detailed description of a specific item in the list, hover the mouse over it.
GSmartControl is available in the software repositories of many popular Linux distributions, so it can be installed using your distro's package manager. On Ubuntu, you can install GSmartControl using the sudo apt-get install gsmartcontrol command.
comments powered by DisqusSubscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
TUXEDO Computers Unveils Linux Laptop Featuring AMD Ryzen CPU
This latest release is the first laptop to include the new CPU from Ryzen and Linux preinstalled.
-
XZ Gets the All-Clear
The back door xz vulnerability has been officially reverted for Fedora 40 and versions 38 and 39 were never affected.
-
Canonical Collaborates with Qualcomm on New Venture
This new joint effort is geared toward bringing Ubuntu and Ubuntu Core to Qualcomm-powered devices.
-
Kodi 21.0 Open-Source Entertainment Hub Released
After a year of development, the award-winning Kodi cross-platform, media center software is now available with many new additions and improvements.
-
Linux Usage Increases in Two Key Areas
If market share is your thing, you'll be happy to know that Linux is on the rise in two areas that, if they keep climbing, could have serious meaning for Linux's future.
-
Vulnerability Discovered in xz Libraries
An urgent alert for Fedora 40 has been posted and users should pay attention.
-
Canonical Bumps LTS Support to 12 years
If you're worried that your Ubuntu LTS release won't be supported long enough to last, Canonical has a surprise for you in the form of 12 years of security coverage.
-
Fedora 40 Beta Released Soon
With the official release of Fedora 40 coming in April, it's almost time to download the beta and see what's new.
-
New Pentesting Distribution to Compete with Kali Linux
SnoopGod is now available for your testing needs
-
Juno Computers Launches Another Linux Laptop
If you're looking for a powerhouse laptop that runs Ubuntu, the Juno Computers Neptune 17 v6 should be on your radar.