Volitans Software has updated SMART Utility (http://www.volitans-software.com/SMART%20Utility.html), a hard drive status monitoring application that’s compatible with Mac OS X 10.4.x, to version 2.2. The upgrade adds support for saving and opening drive reports in native format and support for printing SMART reports.
SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) is a system built into hard drives by their manufacturers to report on various measurements(called attributes) of a hard drive’s operation. The attributes can be used to detect when a hard drive is having mechanical or electrical problems, and can indicate when the hard drive is failing.
The SMART Utility can read and display these attributes. This allows time to hopefully backup, and then replace the drive, according to the folks at Volitans Software.
SMART Utility costs US$25 a personal license and $40 for a family license. SMART Utility is Universal Binary so runs natively on both PowerPC and Intel Macs. Version 2.2 is a free update for registered users of version 2.x.