sg_rmsn - read media serial number

sg_rmsn [--help] [--raw] [--verbose] [--version] <scsi_device>

Send a READ MEDIA SERIAL NUMBER SCSI command to the given device and outputs the response.

This command is described in SPC-3 found at www.t10.org (the current draft is spc3r22a dated 2005/3/25). It was originally added to SPC-3 in revision 11 (2003/2/12). It is not an mandatory command and the author has not seen SCSI devices that support it.

--help | -h

output the usage message then exit.

--raw | -r

sends the serial number (if found) to stdout. This output may contain non-printable characters (e.g. the serial number is padded with NULLs at the end so its length is a multiple of 4). The default action is to print the serial number out in ASCII-HEX with ASCII characters to the right. All error messages are sent to stderr.

--verbose | -v

increase the level of verbosity, (i.e. debug output).

--version | -V

print the version string and then exit.

Device identification information is also found in a standard INQUIRY response and its VPD pages (see sg_inq). The relevant VPD pages are the "device identification page" (VPD page 0x83) and the "unit serial number" page (VPD page 0x80).

The MMC-4 command set for CDs and DVDs has a "media serial number" feature (0x109) [and a "logical unit serial number" feature]. These can be viewed with sg_get_config.

Written by Douglas Gilbert.

Report bugs to <dgilbert at interlog dot com>.

Copyright © 2005 Douglas Gilbert

This software is distributed under a FreeBSD license. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

sg_inq(sg3_utils), sg_get_config(sg3_utils)