{"id":1318,"date":"2023-02-24T10:29:45","date_gmt":"2023-02-24T09:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hoganhost.com.ng\/blog\/?p=1318"},"modified":"2024-08-12T13:27:07","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T12:27:07","slug":"how-to-identify-whether-the-drive-is-hdd-or-ssd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoganhost.com.ng\/blog\/server\/how-to-identify-whether-the-drive-is-hdd-or-ssd\/","title":{"rendered":"How to identify whether the drive is HDD or SSD?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Sometimes our dedicated servers come with Solid State Drives, but how can you really know that what\u2019s inside your box is an SSD or a HDD drive? On this post you will find ways to know if you have SSD drive or HDD running inside.<\/p>\n

As we all know, SSD drives are really well in terms of speed for our Linux servers. Are a little bit expensive than SATA, but they provide excellent performance 10x times better than SATA on most cases.<\/p>\n

What is Hard Disk Drive(HDD)?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The hard drive is an important component of a computer as it permanently stores all the data that are processed by the CPU. Hard Disk Drive(HDD<\/strong>) is a storage device using rapidly rotating disks coated with magnetic material. An\u00a0HDD<\/em>\u00a0retains its data even when powered off. Data is read in a random-access manner, meaning individual blocks of data can be stored or retrieved in any order rather than sequentially. HDD\u2019s are abundantly used because they are cheaper when compared to other devices.<\/p>\n

What is Solid State Drive(SSD)?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A Solid State Drive(SSD<\/strong>) is a data storage device that uses integrated circuit assemblies as memory to store data persistently.\u00a0SSD<\/em> technology uses electronic interfaces compatible with traditional block input\/output (I\/O) hard disk drives, thus permitting simple replacement in common applications. Solid State Drive(SSD)\u2019s are expensive but are faster when compared to HDD.<\/p>\n

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How to identify whether the drive is HDD or SSD?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There are 2 methods to identify whether the drive is HDD or SSD.<\/p>\n

Method 1:<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the latest Kernels, the SSD disks are automatically detected. Log into the root via SSH and use the command\u00a0cat \/sys\/block\/sda\/queue\/rotational<\/code><\/p>\n

The result will be either 0 or 1. If the result is 1, you have HDD and if it is 0, you have SSD.<\/p>\n

Method 2:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alternative way to determine if drive is SSD or HDD<\/h3>\n

smartctl<\/a>\u00a0is the traditional disk health tool for all system administrators used to check disk health issues, but it can also help to retrieve the disk vendor details. Let\u2019s run smartctl to get the type of HDD that you have:<\/p>\n

smartctl -a \/dev\/sda<\/pre>\n
Expected ouput:<\/p>\n
root@localhost ~]# smartctl -a \/dev\/sda<\/strong>\r\nsmartctl 6.4 2015-06-04 r4109 [x86_64-linux-4.4.7-300.fc23.x86_64] (local build)\r\nCopyright (C) 2002-15, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org\r\n\r\n=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===\r\nModel Family:     SanDisk based SSDs\r\nDevice Model:     SanDisk SDSSDP128G\r\nSerial Number:    130773402659\r\nLU WWN Device Id: 5 001b44 97e48c023\r\nFirmware Version: 2.0.0\r\nUser Capacity:    128.035.676.160 bytes [128 GB]\r\nSector Size:      512 bytes logical\/physical\r\nRotation Rate:    Solid State Device<\/strong><\/pre>\n
If you see this line \u201cRotation Rate: Solid State Device\u201d then you haven an Solid State Drive.<\/p>\n
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