diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/gs/gsmartcontrol/fix-paths.patch b/pkgs/by-name/gs/gsmartcontrol/fix-paths.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index b8ec19eb2563..000000000000
--- a/pkgs/by-name/gs/gsmartcontrol/fix-paths.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,33 +0,0 @@
-diff --git a/data/gsmartcontrol-root.in b/data/gsmartcontrol-root.in
---- a/data/gsmartcontrol-root.in
-+++ b/data/gsmartcontrol-root.in
-@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
- # Run gsmartcontrol with root, asking for root password first.
- # export GSMARTCONTROL_SU to override a su command (e.g. "kdesu -c").
- 
--EXEC_BIN="@prefix@/sbin/gsmartcontrol";
-+EXEC_BIN="@prefix@/bin/gsmartcontrol";
- prog_name="gsmartcontrol"
- 
- 
-@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@
- # Add @prefix@/sbin as well (freebsd seems to require it).
- # Note that beesu won't show a GUI login box if /usr/sbin is before /usr/bin,
- # so add it first as well.
--EXTRA_PATHS="/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/sbin:@prefix@/sbin";
-+EXTRA_PATHS="/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/sbin:@prefix@/bin";
- export PATH="$EXTRA_PATHS:$PATH"
- 
- 
-diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
---- a/src/Makefile.am
-+++ b/src/Makefile.am
-@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
- # endif
- 
- 
--sbin_PROGRAMS = gsmartcontrol
-+bin_PROGRAMS = gsmartcontrol
- 
- gsmartcontrol_LDADD = $(top_builddir)/src/applib/libapplib.a \
- 	$(top_builddir)/src/libdebug/libdebug.a \
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/gs/gsmartcontrol/nixos-update-drivedb-message.patch b/pkgs/by-name/gs/gsmartcontrol/nixos-update-drivedb-message.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..5163bcc56aae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/gs/gsmartcontrol/nixos-update-drivedb-message.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+diff --git a/src/gui/gsc_main_window.cpp b/src/gui/gsc_main_window.cpp
+index a5a6ac9..2d7a1f7 100644
+--- a/src/gui/gsc_main_window.cpp
++++ b/src/gui/gsc_main_window.cpp
+@@ -955,8 +955,13 @@ void GscMainWindow::run_update_drivedb()
+ 		if (smartctl_binary.is_absolute()) {
+ 			update_binary_path = smartctl_binary.parent_path() / update_binary_path;
+ 		}
+-		argv = {"xterm", "-hold", "-e", hz::fs_path_to_string(update_binary_path)};
++
++		gui_show_error_dialog(
++			_("Error Updating Drive Database"),
++			_("Updating drivedb from GSmartControl is unavailable in nixpkgs because smartmontools in the Nix store is immutable. Please update your NixOS or nixpkgs channel/flake inputs to get a newer drive database."),
++			this);
++		return;
+ 	}
+ 
+ 	try {
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/gs/gsmartcontrol/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/gs/gsmartcontrol/package.nix
index 27bff9bb23b3..cbb3dde6c8a6 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/gs/gsmartcontrol/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/gs/gsmartcontrol/package.nix
@@ -3,12 +3,12 @@
   stdenv,
   fetchFromGitHub,
   smartmontools,
+  adwaita-icon-theme,
   cmake,
   gtkmm3,
+  makeWrapper,
   pkg-config,
-  wrapGAppsHook3,
-  pcre-cpp,
-  adwaita-icon-theme,
+  # xterm,
 }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
@@ -22,6 +22,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
     hash = "sha256-eLzwFZ1PYqijFTxos9Osf7A2v4C8toM+TGV4/bU82NE=";
   };
 
+  patches = [
+    ./nixos-update-drivedb-message.patch
+  ];
+
   postPatch = ''
     substituteInPlace data/gsmartcontrol.in.desktop \
       --replace-fail "@CMAKE_INSTALL_FULL_BINDIR@/" ""
@@ -30,21 +34,24 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   nativeBuildInputs = [
     cmake
     pkg-config
-    wrapGAppsHook3
+    makeWrapper
   ];
 
   buildInputs = [
     gtkmm3
-    pcre-cpp
     adwaita-icon-theme
   ];
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
-  preFixup = ''
-    gappsWrapperArgs+=(
-      --prefix PATH : "${lib.makeBinPath [ smartmontools ]}"
-    )
+  postFixup = ''
+    wrapProgram $out/bin/gsmartcontrol \
+      --prefix PATH : ${
+        lib.makeBinPath [
+          smartmontools
+          # xterm # For `update-smart-drivedb`, which does not make sense in NixOS as it tries to overwrite /usr/share/smartmontools/drivedb.h
+        ]
+      }
   '';
 
   meta = {