Identifying a Hard Disk Using hdparm

When working with hard disks it is sometimes difficult to determine which piece of hardware corresponds to which Linux device. The hdparm command can provide identifying information to tie the physical drive to the device file in /dev. For example to find the Model and Serial Number of all /dev/sdX devices present on the system:

# hdparm -I /dev/sd?|grep -E "Number|/dev"
/dev/sda:
        Model Number:       HDS722516VLSA80                         
        Serial Number:      VN6D3ECDD7RG1D
/dev/sdb:
        Model Number:       WDC WD740GD-00FLA1                      
        Serial Number:      WD-WMAKE1690676
/dev/sdc:
        Model Number:       HDS722525VLSA80                         
        Serial Number:      VN6J3ECFEALJRD
/dev/sdd:
        Model Number:       HDS722525VLSA80                         
        Serial Number:      VN6J3ECFEBSR1D

Note: Not all drives work with hdparm. Some may give an error

 HDIO_DRIVE_CMD(identify) failed: Invalid argument

This page created and maintained by PhilSchaffner. Other Wiki contributors are invited to make corrections, additions, or modifications.

Thanks to WhatsHisName on the fora for the idea and abednegoyulo for the suggestion to make a Wiki page.