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HDD Health Monitor

HDD Health Monitor is a free, open-source Windows utility that reads S.M.A.R.T.

Place
#21 of 30
Score
5.9
HDD Health Monitor's website

What HDD Health Monitor is

HDD Health Monitor is a free, open-source Windows utility that reads S.M.A.R.T. data from physical drives and presents health information, estimated performance, warnings, and history. It scans drives automatically and can monitor several at once, with separate tray icons and alerts. Its notifications cover temperature, falling health, predictive failure, reallocated sectors, uncorrectable errors, and NVMe critical warnings. The drive view includes a full S.M.A.R.T. attribute table, and while the app is running it saves health and selected attribute snapshots every five seconds, retaining history between sessions.

It supports ATA/SATA, M.2 SATA, NVMe, USB, and SCSI drives, although what it can read depends on the drive and controller. USB drives appear shortly after connection and are removed from the selector and tray when unplugged. The standalone executable needs no installer or dependencies, but administrator privileges are required to access S.M.A.R.T. data. It runs on Windows versions from Vista through Windows 11 and can save a PNG of its main window to a folder in Documents. The software uses the MIT License, does not expire, and requires no registration.

Good

  • Monitors multiple physical drives automatically.
  • Tracks health and selected attributes every five seconds.
  • Alerts cover several drive-failure indicators.
  • Runs without installation or dependencies.
  • Free, open-source, and requires no registration.

Watch out

  • Administrator privileges are required for S.M.A.R.T. access.
  • USB enclosures may not pass through S.M.A.R.T. data.
  • S.M.A.R.T. data is usually unavailable for unofficial flash drives, memory cards, and eMMC.
  • Some Windows antivirus products may incorrectly flag it.

Who it suits

It suits Windows users who want ongoing health and temperature alerts for one or more physical drives. It may also help users who want to review saved S.M.A.R.T. history or inspect drive attributes.

Verdict

HDD Health Monitor combines drive status, alerts, and retained S.M.A.R.T. history in a standalone Windows utility. Read availability depends on the drive and controller, and administrator access is needed for monitoring.

Plans and prices

From HDD Health Monitor's own pricing page, checked 3 Oct 2026.

All about pricing
PlanPriceWhat it gives you
HDD Health MonitorFree100% free · open-source · Windows utility

The facts

Each one read from HDD Health Monitor's own pages, with the date it was checked.

What it does

Alerts
Windows tray notifications cover temperature, declining health, S.M.A.R.T. predictive failure, reallocated sectors, uncorrectable errors, and NVMe critical warnings.checked 3 Oct 2026
Drive monitoring
Scans all physical drives automatically and monitors multiple drives simultaneously, with a separate tray icon and alerts for each.checked 3 Oct 2026
Drive support
Supports ATA/SATA, M.2 SATA, NVMe, USB drives, and SCSI drives, though available data depends on the drive and its controller.checked 3 Oct 2026
Health and performance
Shows per-drive health and estimated performance percentages alongside a full S.M.A.R.T. attribute table.checked 3 Oct 2026
History
Records health and selectable S.M.A.R.T. attribute snapshots every five seconds while running and saves history to disk between sessions.checked 3 Oct 2026
Hot-plug
Detects connected USB drives in about one to two seconds and removes their drive selector and tray icon when unplugged.checked 3 Oct 2026
License and expiration
The documentation says the software is free and open-source under the MIT License, does not expire, and requires no registration.checked 3 Oct 2026
Portable setup
Runs as a standalone executable without an installer or dependencies; administrator privileges are required to read S.M.A.R.T. data.checked 3 Oct 2026
Purpose
Reads raw S.M.A.R.T. data from physical drives and presents drive health information, warnings, and historical trends.checked 3 Oct 2026
Screenshots
Can save a PNG image of the main window to a HDDH_Screenshots subfolder in Documents.checked 3 Oct 2026
Security note
The maker warns that some Windows antivirus products may incorrectly flag the program as malware.checked 3 Oct 2026
Support
The site provides documentation, bug reporting, and an email contact at [email protected].checked 3 Oct 2026
USB flash limitation
The maker says S.M.A.R.T. data usually cannot be read from unofficial USB flash drives, memory cards, and eMMC products.checked 3 Oct 2026
USB limitation
S.M.A.R.T. data may be unavailable when a USB enclosure bridge does not support pass-through or a supported protocol.checked 3 Oct 2026

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