Background
I recently saw a post over on Linux Journal that discussed how to glean information about a system’s hard drive, such as its serial number, without having to actually open up the case and physically check it. So I thought I’d take the opportunity to write up a blog post with the specifics of how to do this under Fedora & CentOS, just so I’d have this info handy for future use.
BTW, I was able to accomplish this task several different ways, so this post will cover all the different ways that I could get this info.
Command #1: lshw
This is probably the best tool for getting at a system’s internals. First make sure it’s installed.
1 | yum install lshw |
For our example you would run the command lshw -class disk:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 | % lshw -class disk *-disk description: ATA Disk product: HTS726060M9AT00 vendor: Hitachi physical id: 0 bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0 logical name: /dev/sda version: MH4O serial: MRH403M4GS551Y size: 55GiB (60GB) capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos configuration: ansiversion=5 signature=cccdcccd *-cdrom description: DVD reader product: UJDA755yDVD/CDRW vendor: MATSHITA physical id: 1 bus info: scsi@1:0.0.0 logical name: /dev/cdrom logical name: /dev/cdrw logical name: /dev/dvd logical name: /dev/scd0 logical name: /dev/sr0 version: 1.71 capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd configuration: ansiversion=5 status=nodisc |
The first section that’s returned is called -disk. Here’s you’ll see the vendor: Hitachi, the product number, HTS726060M9AT00, and my serial number: MRH403M4GS551Y.
Command #2: smartctl
The next tool that would give this type of info is called smartctl. It’s a tool that’s part of the smartmontool package. You may be familiar with the acronym S.M.A.R.T.. The acronym stands for: Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology. This is a standard that most modern disks have in which vital statistics about a disk drive are provided through a standard API. Here’s how to install it.
1 | yum install smartmontools |
…and once installed you can use the bundled in tool smartctl like so:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 | # smartctl example % smartctl -i /dev/sda smartctl version 5.38 [i386-redhat-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-8 Bruce Allen Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/ === START OF INFORMATION SECTION === Model Family: Hitachi Travelstar 7K60 Device Model: HTS726060M9AT00 Serial Number: MRH403M4GS551Y Firmware Version: MH4OA6BA User Capacity: 60,011,642,880 bytes Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show] ATA Version is: 6 ATA Standard is: ATA/ATAPI-6 T13 1410D revision 3a Local Time is: Mon Sep 21 00:03:50 2009 EDT SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability. SMART support is: Enabled |
Command #3: hdparm
Another way that I’ve used to get at hard drive meta data is with the command hdparm. This is probably the oldest way, at least that I’m familiar with, for getting at hard drive meta data. To install it:
1 | yum install hdparm |
Using it is simply:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 | # hdparm example % hdparm -i /dev/sda /dev/sda: Model=HTS726060M9AT00 , FwRev=MH4OA6BA, SerialNo= MRH403M4GS551Y Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs } RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=4 BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=7877kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=?0? CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=117210240 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:240,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120} PIO modes: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 DMA modes: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5 AdvancedPM=yes: mode=0xC0 (192) WriteCache=enabled Drive conforms to: ATA/ATAPI-6 T13 1410D revision 3a: ATA/ATAPI-2,3,4,5,6 * signifies the current active mode |
Command #4: lsscsi
Here’s another tool, lsscsi, that I’ve used off and on to get at hard drive meta data. It’s probably the least known of all the tools mentioned here. Installation is the same as the others:
1 | yum install lsscsi |
It’s usage is pretty much in-line with the other commands too:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 | # lsscsi example % lsscsi -lll -vvv sysfsroot: /sys [0:0:0:0] disk ATA HTS726060M9AT00 MH4O /dev/sda device_blocked=0 iocounterbits=32 iodone_cnt=0x92983 ioerr_cnt=0x4f iorequest_cnt=0x92983 queue_depth=1 queue_type=none scsi_level=6 state=running timeout=60 type=0 dir: /sys/bus/scsi/devices/0:0:0:0 [/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.1/host0/target0:0:0/0:0:0:0] [1:0:0:0] cd/dvd MATSHITA UJDA755yDVD/CDRW 1.71 /dev/sr0 device_blocked=0 iocounterbits=32 iodone_cnt=0xa0f7 ioerr_cnt=0x0 iorequest_cnt=0x283a7 queue_depth=1 queue_type=none scsi_level=6 state=running timeout=0 type=5 dir: /sys/bus/scsi/devices/1:0:0:0 [/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.1/host1/target1:0:0/1:0:0:0] |
Command #4: /dev/disk/by-id directory
Finally you can get the manufacturer’s product number & serial number can be had by going directly to the /dev directory, specifically here: /dev/disk/by-id. In the resulting output you’ll see 2 important substrings. The first, HTS726060M9AT00, is he product number while the second, MRH403M4GS551Y, is the serial number.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | # /dev/disk/by-id example % ls -1 /dev/disk/by-id ata-HTS726060M9AT00_MRH403M4GS551Y ata-HTS726060M9AT00_MRH403M4GS551Y-part1 ata-HTS726060M9AT00_MRH403M4GS551Y-part2 scsi-SATA_HTS726060M9AT00_MRH403M4GS551Y scsi-SATA_HTS726060M9AT00_MRH403M4GS551Y-part1 scsi-SATA_HTS726060M9AT00_MRH403M4GS551Y-part2 |
NOTE: For further details regarding my one-liner blog posts, check out my one-liner style guide primer.
September 21st, 2009, @ 10:13 am |
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