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.

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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.