On 28/01/2010, at 1:18 AM, Jan Ceuleers wrote:

Matt Garman wrote:

quoted

quoted

Is there a way to identify what drive is what?

Sometimes you can infer from dmesg.  E.g., type "dmesg | less" then
scroll until you see where sdb is initialized; it might show the model
and serial number of the drive.

Another approach is to use smartctl, i.e.: "sudo smartctl -a
/dev/sdb".  This will definitely show you the model and serial number.
You can also use hdparm for the same effect: "sudo hdparm -I
/dev/sdb".

I'm sure there's more ways, but those are the first that come to mind.

I'm guessing that the OP is looking for ways to identify disks without disassembling them all.

In the networking world, you can ask the system to tell you which network interface is which, by blinking the network LEDs (using ethtool -p). Is there something similar for disks?

I used a similar method. I have a SATA enclosure that takes 3 x 5.25" bays and gives me 4 x hot swap SATA bays.

As each bay has a power and an activity LED I can do something simple like:
			dd if=/dev/sdb of=/dev/null

The bay that has sdb will have a constantly on activity light.

If you don't have enclosures, then this becomes somewhat difficult.

--
Steven Haigh

Email: netwiz@crc.id.au
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