Tech Tip: Retrieve Disk Info from the Command Line

You can use the following command line tools to retrieve the make and model of your hard drives without the need to open up your system.

First, you need the device names of your disks, for this you can use df or cat /proc/partitions. Example device names are names such as /dev/hda or /dev/sdb. For the following examples, where applicable, I will use /dev/sda as my disk device.

Use the lshw command:

$ lshw -class disk
...
-disk:0
       product: ST3250310NS
       vendor:  Seagate
       version: SN04
       serial:  9SF0000TH
       size:    232GiB (250GB)

Use the smartctl command:

$ smartctl -i /dev/sda
...
Device Model:     ST3250310NS
Serial Number:    9SF0000TH
Firmware Version: SN04
...

Note: You may need to install the 'smartmontools' package, your output will vary depending on smartctl version and disk make/model.

Use the hdparm command:

$ hdparm -i /dev/sda

/dev/sda:

 Model=ST3250310NS, FwRev=SN04, SerialNo=9SF0000TH
...

Use the hwinfo command:

$ hwinfo --disk
...
Model:     "ST3250310NS"
Device:    "ST3250310NS"
Revision:  "SN04"
Serial ID: "9SF0000TH"
...

Note: You may need to install the 'hwinfo' package.

Note, you will need to be root to get the full output from these commands.

And one additional way that you can determine the model and serial number of your disk:

$ ls /dev/disk/by-id

ata-ST3250310NS_9SF0000TH
ata-ST3250310NS_9SF0000TH-part1
ata-ST3250310NS_9SF0000TH-part2
ata-ST3250310NS_9SF0000TH-part3

Here the model number is ST3250310NS, and the serial number is 9SF0000TH.