Windows – How to list basic information about disks (cylinders, heads, sectors, sector size) on Windows 7 and 10

command-line-interfacediskmanagementhard drivewindows

On Linux, fdisk supplies this information without any problems. I can't seem to do the same anywhere in Windows, nor (at a glance) in diskpart which is intended to succeed/replace fdisk.

I need to find the low and high cylinder of a CF card, number of heads, sectors per track, and sector size in bytes. The usual stuff.

How do I do that? Is there a native interface to get this information, or do I have to install a 3rd-party utility or boot a Linux liveCD?

Best Answer

You can do it natively in Windows, using the Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC) interface. In this case, the command you want is wmic diskdrive, which returns the Win32_DiskDrive class. You can execute it from CMD or PowerShell.

From the system I'm writing this from, for example:

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> wmic diskdrive
Availability  BytesPerSector  Capabilities  CapabilityDescriptions                                       Caption                                 CompressionMethod  ConfigManagerErrorCode  ConfigManagerUserConfig  CreationClassName  DefaultBlockSize  Description  DeviceID            ErrorCleared  ErrorDescription  ErrorMethodology  FirmwareRevision  Index  InstallDate  InterfaceType  LastErrorCode  Manufacturer            MaxBlockSize  MaxMediaSize  MediaLoaded  MediaType                 MinBlockSize  Model                                   Name                NeedsCleaning  NumberOfMediaSupported  Partitions  PNPDeviceID                                                                         PowerManagementCapabilities  PowerManagementSupported  SCSIBus  SCSILogicalUnit  SCSIPort  SCSITargetId  SectorsPerTrack  SerialNumber        Signature   Size           Status  StatusInfo  SystemCreationClassName  SystemName  TotalCylinders  TotalHeads  TotalSectors  TotalTracks  TracksPerCylinder
              512             {3, 4}        {"Random Access", "Supports Writing"}                        Adaptec Array SCSI Disk Device                             0                       FALSE                    Win32_DiskDrive                      Disk drive   \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE0                                                    V1.0              0                   SCSI                          (Standard disk drives)                              TRUE         Fixed hard disk media                   Adaptec Array SCSI Disk Device          \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE0                                         1           SCSI\DISK&VEN_ADAPTEC&PROD_ARRAY\8&9D7B342&0&040000                                                                                        4        0                0         0             63               ########                        3000179105280  OK                  Win32_ComputerSystem     ########    364751          255         5859724815    93011505     255
              512             {3, 4}        {"Random Access", "Supports Writing"}                        Seagate Desktop USB Device                                 0                       FALSE                    Win32_DiskDrive                      Disk drive   \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE6                                                    0130              6                   USB                           (Standard disk drives)                              TRUE         External hard disk media                Seagate Desktop USB Device              \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE6                                         1           USBSTOR\DISK&VEN_SEAGATE&PROD_DESKTOP&REV_0130\########____&0                                                                              0        0                0         0             63               ########            1951563079  2000396321280  OK                  Win32_ComputerSystem     ########    243201          255         3907024065    62016255     255
              512             {3, 4, 10}    {"Random Access", "Supports Writing", "SMART Notification"}  SAMSUNG HD753LJ SCSI Disk Device                           0                       FALSE                    Win32_DiskDrive                      Disk drive   \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE3                                                    1AA0              3                   SCSI                          (Standard disk drives)                              TRUE         Fixed hard disk media                   SAMSUNG HD753LJ SCSI Disk Device        \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE3                                         1           SCSI\DISK&VEN_SAMSUNG&PROD_HD753LJ\4&BE9218C&0&000000                                                                                      0        0                5         0             63               ##############                  750153761280   OK                  Win32_ComputerSystem     ########    91201           255         1465144065    23256255     255
              512             {3, 4, 10}    {"Random Access", "Supports Writing", "SMART Notification"}  INTEL SS DSC2CT120A3 SCSI Disk Device                      0                       FALSE                    Win32_DiskDrive                      Disk drive   \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE1                                                    300i              1                   SCSI                          (Standard disk drives)                              TRUE         Fixed hard disk media                   INTEL SS DSC2CT120A3 SCSI Disk Device   \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE1                                         3           SCSI\DISK&VEN_INTEL_SS&PROD_DSC2CT120A3\4&1EA2D231&0&000000                                                                                0        0                4         0             63               ##################  2085025849  120031027200   OK                  Win32_ComputerSystem     ########    15505           240         234435600     3721200      240
              4096            {3, 4}        {"Random Access", "Supports Writing"}                        WD My Book 1140 USB Device                                 0                       FALSE                    Win32_DiskDrive                      Disk drive   \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE7                                                    1019              7                   USB                           (Standard disk drives)                              TRUE         External hard disk media                WD My Book 1140 USB Device              \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE7                                         1           USBSTOR\DISK&VEN_WD&PROD_MY_BOOK_1140&REV_1019\504C313332314C41473457425348&0                                                              0        0                0         0             63               ##############      3796332454  4000710389760  OK                  Win32_ComputerSystem     ########    60799           255         976735935     15503745     255
              512             {3, 4, 10}    {"Random Access", "Supports Writing", "SMART Notification"}  SAMSUNG HD753LJ SCSI Disk Device                           0                       FALSE                    Win32_DiskDrive                      Disk drive   \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE2                                                    1AA0              2                   SCSI                          (Standard disk drives)                              TRUE         Fixed hard disk media                   SAMSUNG HD753LJ SCSI Disk Device        \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE2                                         1           SCSI\DISK&VEN_SAMSUNG&PROD_HD753LJ\4&1EA2D231&0&010100                                                                                     1        0                4         1             63               ##############                  750153761280   OK                  Win32_ComputerSystem     ########    91201           255         1465144065    23256255     255
              4096            {3, 4}        {"Random Access", "Supports Writing"}                        WD My Book 1140 USB Device                                 0                       FALSE                    Win32_DiskDrive                      Disk drive   \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE8                                                    1016              8                   USB                           (Standard disk drives)                              TRUE         External hard disk media                WD My Book 1140 USB Device              \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE8                                         1           USBSTOR\DISK&VEN_WD&PROD_MY_BOOK_1140&REV_1016\504C313332314C41473347365348&0                                                              0        0                0         0             63               ##############      3679187067  4000710389760  OK                  Win32_ComputerSystem     ########    60799           255         976735935     15503745     255
              512             {3, 4}        {"Random Access", "Supports Writing"}                        WD 10EACS External USB Device                              0                       FALSE                    Win32_DiskDrive                      Disk drive   \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE5                                                    1.65              5                   USB                           (Standard disk drives)                              TRUE         External hard disk media                WD 10EACS External USB Device           \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE5                                         0           USBSTOR\DISK&VEN_WD&PROD_10EACS_EXTERNAL&REV_1.65\57442D574341553430373030383036&0                                                         0        0                0         0             63               ###############     0           1000202273280  OK                  Win32_ComputerSystem     ########    121601          255         1953520065    31008255     255
              512             {3, 4, 10}    {"Random Access", "Supports Writing", "SMART Notification"}  Crucial_ CT512MX100SS SCSI Disk Device                     0                       FALSE                    Win32_DiskDrive                      Disk drive   \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE4                                                    MU01              4                   SCSI                          (Standard disk drives)                              TRUE         Fixed hard disk media                   Crucial_ CT512MX100SS SCSI Disk Device  \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE4                                         1           SCSI\DISK&VEN_CRUCIAL_&PROD_CT512MX100SS\4&BE9218C&0&010100                                                                                1        0                5         1             63               ############                    512105932800   OK                  Win32_ComputerSystem     ########    62260           255         1000206900    15876300     255

(I redacted the serial numbers and system name with ########.)

As you've probably noticed, the line length on this is rather long, so you'll want to be selective about the properties you have returned, have it output in one property per line (wmic diskdrive list /format:list), pipe the output to a file, and/or set your console width to be very large before running the command, because it will be basically illegible if line wrapping kicks in.

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