A quick way to check the type of the drive

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9















Is there a quick way to understand a type of the "storage" on Linux? Is it a HDD or SSD (or NVMe)?
It's already known that the host is a physical machine and not a VM.
The first thing I though about was rotational flag under /sys/block/<device>/queue/ directory. But in my experience even for SSD devices it may contain "1" value.
The second way and more realistic and truthful was a latency. It's a bit harder to measure (some work with /proc/diskstats), but looks more preferable.



Is there any other ways? It's important to mention that I don't need to know exact model of the "storage", just its type.










share|improve this question

















  • 1





    Measuring latency is not a good answer as some rotational disks come with huge caches which may or may not be easy to distinguish from full capacity solid state devices.

    – anx
    Jan 21 at 11:03






  • 2





    Along with smartctl mentioned here, other utilities such as lshw and lsblk report the same information. See also askubuntu.com/q/792814/295286

    – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
    Jan 21 at 15:47






  • 1





    what would you use this info for? In other words, if I give you program called isHDDorSSD what will you do with it

    – aaaaaa
    Jan 21 at 18:18











  • Bonnie++ can show SSD vs HDD based on IOPS (as can dd)

    – warren
    Jan 21 at 18:19











  • @Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy, I've not found such info in lshw. Also lsblk relies on rotational flag in sysfs directory hence I can't trust it. smartctl uses ioctl call and asks inforamtion directly from device.

    – lesovsky
    Jan 21 at 19:32















9















Is there a quick way to understand a type of the "storage" on Linux? Is it a HDD or SSD (or NVMe)?
It's already known that the host is a physical machine and not a VM.
The first thing I though about was rotational flag under /sys/block/<device>/queue/ directory. But in my experience even for SSD devices it may contain "1" value.
The second way and more realistic and truthful was a latency. It's a bit harder to measure (some work with /proc/diskstats), but looks more preferable.



Is there any other ways? It's important to mention that I don't need to know exact model of the "storage", just its type.










share|improve this question

















  • 1





    Measuring latency is not a good answer as some rotational disks come with huge caches which may or may not be easy to distinguish from full capacity solid state devices.

    – anx
    Jan 21 at 11:03






  • 2





    Along with smartctl mentioned here, other utilities such as lshw and lsblk report the same information. See also askubuntu.com/q/792814/295286

    – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
    Jan 21 at 15:47






  • 1





    what would you use this info for? In other words, if I give you program called isHDDorSSD what will you do with it

    – aaaaaa
    Jan 21 at 18:18











  • Bonnie++ can show SSD vs HDD based on IOPS (as can dd)

    – warren
    Jan 21 at 18:19











  • @Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy, I've not found such info in lshw. Also lsblk relies on rotational flag in sysfs directory hence I can't trust it. smartctl uses ioctl call and asks inforamtion directly from device.

    – lesovsky
    Jan 21 at 19:32













9












9








9


1






Is there a quick way to understand a type of the "storage" on Linux? Is it a HDD or SSD (or NVMe)?
It's already known that the host is a physical machine and not a VM.
The first thing I though about was rotational flag under /sys/block/<device>/queue/ directory. But in my experience even for SSD devices it may contain "1" value.
The second way and more realistic and truthful was a latency. It's a bit harder to measure (some work with /proc/diskstats), but looks more preferable.



Is there any other ways? It's important to mention that I don't need to know exact model of the "storage", just its type.










share|improve this question














Is there a quick way to understand a type of the "storage" on Linux? Is it a HDD or SSD (or NVMe)?
It's already known that the host is a physical machine and not a VM.
The first thing I though about was rotational flag under /sys/block/<device>/queue/ directory. But in my experience even for SSD devices it may contain "1" value.
The second way and more realistic and truthful was a latency. It's a bit harder to measure (some work with /proc/diskstats), but looks more preferable.



Is there any other ways? It's important to mention that I don't need to know exact model of the "storage", just its type.







linux storage proc






share|improve this question













share|improve this question











share|improve this question




share|improve this question










asked Jan 21 at 5:16









lesovskylesovsky

584




584







  • 1





    Measuring latency is not a good answer as some rotational disks come with huge caches which may or may not be easy to distinguish from full capacity solid state devices.

    – anx
    Jan 21 at 11:03






  • 2





    Along with smartctl mentioned here, other utilities such as lshw and lsblk report the same information. See also askubuntu.com/q/792814/295286

    – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
    Jan 21 at 15:47






  • 1





    what would you use this info for? In other words, if I give you program called isHDDorSSD what will you do with it

    – aaaaaa
    Jan 21 at 18:18











  • Bonnie++ can show SSD vs HDD based on IOPS (as can dd)

    – warren
    Jan 21 at 18:19











  • @Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy, I've not found such info in lshw. Also lsblk relies on rotational flag in sysfs directory hence I can't trust it. smartctl uses ioctl call and asks inforamtion directly from device.

    – lesovsky
    Jan 21 at 19:32












  • 1





    Measuring latency is not a good answer as some rotational disks come with huge caches which may or may not be easy to distinguish from full capacity solid state devices.

    – anx
    Jan 21 at 11:03






  • 2





    Along with smartctl mentioned here, other utilities such as lshw and lsblk report the same information. See also askubuntu.com/q/792814/295286

    – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
    Jan 21 at 15:47






  • 1





    what would you use this info for? In other words, if I give you program called isHDDorSSD what will you do with it

    – aaaaaa
    Jan 21 at 18:18











  • Bonnie++ can show SSD vs HDD based on IOPS (as can dd)

    – warren
    Jan 21 at 18:19











  • @Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy, I've not found such info in lshw. Also lsblk relies on rotational flag in sysfs directory hence I can't trust it. smartctl uses ioctl call and asks inforamtion directly from device.

    – lesovsky
    Jan 21 at 19:32







1




1





Measuring latency is not a good answer as some rotational disks come with huge caches which may or may not be easy to distinguish from full capacity solid state devices.

– anx
Jan 21 at 11:03





Measuring latency is not a good answer as some rotational disks come with huge caches which may or may not be easy to distinguish from full capacity solid state devices.

– anx
Jan 21 at 11:03




2




2





Along with smartctl mentioned here, other utilities such as lshw and lsblk report the same information. See also askubuntu.com/q/792814/295286

– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
Jan 21 at 15:47





Along with smartctl mentioned here, other utilities such as lshw and lsblk report the same information. See also askubuntu.com/q/792814/295286

– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
Jan 21 at 15:47




1




1





what would you use this info for? In other words, if I give you program called isHDDorSSD what will you do with it

– aaaaaa
Jan 21 at 18:18





what would you use this info for? In other words, if I give you program called isHDDorSSD what will you do with it

– aaaaaa
Jan 21 at 18:18













Bonnie++ can show SSD vs HDD based on IOPS (as can dd)

– warren
Jan 21 at 18:19





Bonnie++ can show SSD vs HDD based on IOPS (as can dd)

– warren
Jan 21 at 18:19













@Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy, I've not found such info in lshw. Also lsblk relies on rotational flag in sysfs directory hence I can't trust it. smartctl uses ioctl call and asks inforamtion directly from device.

– lesovsky
Jan 21 at 19:32





@Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy, I've not found such info in lshw. Also lsblk relies on rotational flag in sysfs directory hence I can't trust it. smartctl uses ioctl call and asks inforamtion directly from device.

– lesovsky
Jan 21 at 19:32










1 Answer
1






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oldest

votes


















12














How about something like sudo smartctl -a /dev/<device> | grep Rotation -- if this returns Rotation Rate: Solid State Device, then that's an SSD. Not sure if this bullet-proof method, either.






share|improve this answer


















  • 1





    Looks good, it works even with drives attached through RAID cards.

    – lesovsky
    Jan 21 at 6:56











  • @lesovsky, I wouldn't count on it working through a RAID card. I don't have any SSDs attached to RAID that I can test with, but it shows incorrect rotational rates for the spinning disks (every disk in the array shows up as 10k, when they're all actually 7.2k).

    – Mark
    Jan 22 at 0:07










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1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes








1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes









12














How about something like sudo smartctl -a /dev/<device> | grep Rotation -- if this returns Rotation Rate: Solid State Device, then that's an SSD. Not sure if this bullet-proof method, either.






share|improve this answer


















  • 1





    Looks good, it works even with drives attached through RAID cards.

    – lesovsky
    Jan 21 at 6:56











  • @lesovsky, I wouldn't count on it working through a RAID card. I don't have any SSDs attached to RAID that I can test with, but it shows incorrect rotational rates for the spinning disks (every disk in the array shows up as 10k, when they're all actually 7.2k).

    – Mark
    Jan 22 at 0:07















12














How about something like sudo smartctl -a /dev/<device> | grep Rotation -- if this returns Rotation Rate: Solid State Device, then that's an SSD. Not sure if this bullet-proof method, either.






share|improve this answer


















  • 1





    Looks good, it works even with drives attached through RAID cards.

    – lesovsky
    Jan 21 at 6:56











  • @lesovsky, I wouldn't count on it working through a RAID card. I don't have any SSDs attached to RAID that I can test with, but it shows incorrect rotational rates for the spinning disks (every disk in the array shows up as 10k, when they're all actually 7.2k).

    – Mark
    Jan 22 at 0:07













12












12








12







How about something like sudo smartctl -a /dev/<device> | grep Rotation -- if this returns Rotation Rate: Solid State Device, then that's an SSD. Not sure if this bullet-proof method, either.






share|improve this answer













How about something like sudo smartctl -a /dev/<device> | grep Rotation -- if this returns Rotation Rate: Solid State Device, then that's an SSD. Not sure if this bullet-proof method, either.







share|improve this answer












share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer










answered Jan 21 at 5:31









Janne PikkarainenJanne Pikkarainen

28.1k34067




28.1k34067







  • 1





    Looks good, it works even with drives attached through RAID cards.

    – lesovsky
    Jan 21 at 6:56











  • @lesovsky, I wouldn't count on it working through a RAID card. I don't have any SSDs attached to RAID that I can test with, but it shows incorrect rotational rates for the spinning disks (every disk in the array shows up as 10k, when they're all actually 7.2k).

    – Mark
    Jan 22 at 0:07












  • 1





    Looks good, it works even with drives attached through RAID cards.

    – lesovsky
    Jan 21 at 6:56











  • @lesovsky, I wouldn't count on it working through a RAID card. I don't have any SSDs attached to RAID that I can test with, but it shows incorrect rotational rates for the spinning disks (every disk in the array shows up as 10k, when they're all actually 7.2k).

    – Mark
    Jan 22 at 0:07







1




1





Looks good, it works even with drives attached through RAID cards.

– lesovsky
Jan 21 at 6:56





Looks good, it works even with drives attached through RAID cards.

– lesovsky
Jan 21 at 6:56













@lesovsky, I wouldn't count on it working through a RAID card. I don't have any SSDs attached to RAID that I can test with, but it shows incorrect rotational rates for the spinning disks (every disk in the array shows up as 10k, when they're all actually 7.2k).

– Mark
Jan 22 at 0:07





@lesovsky, I wouldn't count on it working through a RAID card. I don't have any SSDs attached to RAID that I can test with, but it shows incorrect rotational rates for the spinning disks (every disk in the array shows up as 10k, when they're all actually 7.2k).

– Mark
Jan 22 at 0:07

















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