Simply use utility called sdparm to fetch SCSI / SATA device information. Inquiry data including Vital Product Data (VPD) pages can also be displayed. Commands associated with starting and stopping the medium; loading and unloading the medium; and other housekeeping functions may also be performed by this utility.
In short you can get or set SCSI hard disk parameters. If you are using ATA ( IDE ) hard disk use hdparm utility.
Install sdparm utility
Type the following command at shell prompt:
# apt-get install sdparm
Red Hat / CentOS user can grab sdparm rpm package here.
sdparm examples
To list common mode parameters of a disk, enter:
# sdparm /dev/sda
To list the designators within the device identification VPD page of a disk:
# sdparm --inquiry /dev/sdb
To see all parameters for the caching mode page:
# sdparm --page=ca /dev/sdc
To set the "Writeback Cache Enable" bit in the current values page:
# sdparm --set=WCE /dev/sda
Further readings:
- sdparm man page
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- Last Updated: May/26/2008



{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Unfortunately sdparm doesn’t work with cciss disks :-(