Admin Tips
- Windows Server 2008/2003/2000/XP/NT Administrator Knowledge Base
  - Windows 2003
    - Admin Tips
      - Miscellaneous
        Getting low-level disk info

Section(s): Miscellaneous
Published on Sep 18, 2007.
Last Modified on Sep 18, 2007.
Last Modified by Mitch Tulloch.
Rating: Not Rated

How to get low-level disk info using WMIC.

The Windows Server 2000 Resource Kit included a command-line tool named diskpar.exe that could be used to display low-level disk info, but this tool is not included with Windows Server 2003 or later. How can you display this info if you don't have this tool?

Try the Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC). Open a command prompt and type wmic diskdrive list and you get info like the following:

BytesPerSector 512
DeviceID \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE0
InterfaceType IDE
Model SAMSUNG SP0802N
Partitions 3
Size 79999073280
TotalCylinders 9726
TotalHeads 255
TotalSectors 156248190
TotalTracks 2480130
TracksPerCylinder 255

and so on.

***

Mitch Tulloch is lead author for the Windows Vista Resource Kit from Microsoft Press, which is THE book for IT pros who want to deploy, maintain and support Windows Vista in mid- and large-sized network environments. Mitch is also the author of Introducing Windows Server 2008, the first book from Microsoft Press about the exciting new server platform. For more information on these and other books written by Mitch, see www.mtit.com.

About Mitch Tulloch

Mitch Tulloch is a widely recognized expert on Windows administration, networking, and security. He has been repeatedly awarded Most Valuable Professional (MVP) status by Microsoft for his outstanding contributions in supporting users who deploy and use Microsoft platforms, products and solutions. Mitch has published over two hundred articles on different IT websites and magazines, and he has written or contributed to almost two dozen books and is lead author for the Windows 7 Resource Kit from Microsoft Press. For more information, see www.mtit.com .