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#1
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Determine USB HDD Serial Number (NOT Volume Serial!)
Hi all! I'm sure many of you rolled your eyes at the subject trying to
recall how many times youv'e heard this question. But bear with because I THINK my question is at least slightly different from the typical post. I would like to obtain the manufactuer's embedded serial number (NOT the volume serial that changes with each format) of USB drives. I found some very handy code to obtain a regular SMART-enabled IDE drive's information in VB6 he http://vbnet.mvps.org/index.html?code/disk/smartide.htm However, when I run that code, it does not give me any information about, say, a flash drive that is connected to my USB port. Do all USB drives (both external hard drives with movable parts as well as flash memory drives) have an embedded serial number that can be accessed? If so, how can I obtain that information in Visual Basic 6? In not VB6, how about any other language? My ultimate goal is to be able to give out some USB thumb drives or external hard drives and be able to uniquely track them. ANY thoughts towards my goal would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! Matthew |
#2
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Determine USB HDD Serial Number (NOT Volume Serial!)
Previously Connah wrote:
Hi all! I'm sure many of you rolled your eyes at the subject trying to recall how many times youv'e heard this question. But bear with because I THINK my question is at least slightly different from the typical post. I would like to obtain the manufactuer's embedded serial number (NOT the volume serial that changes with each format) of USB drives. I found some very handy code to obtain a regular SMART-enabled IDE drive's information in VB6 he http://vbnet.mvps.org/index.html?code/disk/smartide.htm However, when I run that code, it does not give me any information about, say, a flash drive that is connected to my USB port. Do all USB drives (both external hard drives with movable parts as well as flash memory drives) have an embedded serial number that can be accessed? If so, how can I obtain that information in Visual Basic 6? In not VB6, how about any other language? The drive is just a regular drive. But SMART cannot work over USB, since there is no command set extension for it. Except some vendor specific solutions that are non-portable. My ultimate goal is to be able to give out some USB thumb drives or external hard drives and be able to uniquely track them. ANY thoughts towards my goal would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! Well, the smartmontools (Linux, win-port available)do not give you the disk ID even for USB disks. Example: --- gate:/home/wagner# smartctl -i /dev/sdc smartctl version 5.36 [i686-pc-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-6 Bruce Allen Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/ Device: ST316002 1A Version: 3.06 --- The detailed USB bus info also does not list the disk serial number. I would say it is possible that USB also does not support serial number querying for the USB storage class. I also have no idea whether USB flash-drives have serial numbers at all... Arno |
#3
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Determine USB HDD Serial Number (NOT Volume Serial!)
I would like to obtain the manufactuer's embedded serial number (NOT
the volume serial that changes with each format) of USB drives. I found some very handy code to obtain a regular SMART-enabled IDE drive's information in VB6 he http://vbnet.mvps.org/index.html?code/disk/smartide.htm However, when I run that code, it does not give me any information about, say, a flash drive that is connected to my USB port. Do all USB drives (both external hard drives with movable parts as well as flash memory drives) have an embedded serial number that can be accessed? If so, how can I obtain that information in Visual Basic 6? In not VB6, how about any other language? My DiskID32 tool http://www.winsim.com/diskid32/diskid32.html does not work with USB drives either. The published interface from MS ( http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa363411.aspx ) does not appear to work either. Does the Belarc advisor http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html work ? Lynn |
#4
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Determine USB HDD Serial Number (NOT Volume Serial!)
On Jun 20, 5:49 pm, Arno Wagner wrote:
Previously Connah wrote: Hi all! I'm sure many of you rolled your eyes at the subject trying to recall how many times youv'e heard this question. But bear with because I THINK my question is at least slightly different from the typical post. I would like to obtain the manufactuer's embedded serial number (NOT the volume serial that changes with each format) of USB drives. I found some very handy code to obtain a regular SMART-enabled IDE drive's information in VB6 he http://vbnet.mvps.org/index.html?code/disk/smartide.htm However, when I run that code, it does not give me any information about, say, a flash drive that is connected to my USB port. Do all USB drives (both external hard drives with movable parts as well as flash memory drives) have an embedded serial number that can be accessed? If so, how can I obtain that information in Visual Basic 6? In not VB6, how about any other language? The drive is just a regular drive. But SMART cannot work over USB, since there is no command set extension for it. Except some vendor specific solutions that are non-portable. My ultimate goal is to be able to give out some USB thumb drives or external hard drives and be able to uniquely track them. ANY thoughts towards my goal would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! Well, the smartmontools (Linux, win-port available)do not give you the disk ID even for USB disks. Example: --- gate:/home/wagner# smartctl -i /dev/sdc smartctl version 5.36 [i686-pc-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-6 Bruce Allen Home page ishttp://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/ Device: ST316002 1A Version: 3.06 --- The detailed USB bus info also does not list the disk serial number. I would say it is possible that USB also does not support serial number querying for the USB storage class. I also have no idea whether USB flash-drives have serial numbers at all... Arno- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - The USB org clearly states that there should be a unique serial number to all devices. I found many devices, mouse, keyboard and flash drives without a unique serial no. But they did have a serial no, but the problem is all their devices have the same serial no. Most of them (nearly all of them) are made in China especially the cheap products. I think they simply duplicate the Serial Number. I call them bad devices. But the world brend devices like Kingston, iOmega, ect... do have a unique serial no among their devices. It means that the serial numbers of two of the completely identical devices attached are not the same while the vendor ID is shown the same. I call them good devices. If you dig deep enough in the Windows Registry, you could find many unique serial with vendor ID of every device or disks which have been attached to your computer. For bad devices, there is only one entry for multiple devices which have been attached. Once, I have studied some API codes working around the USB interface. It is right that USB does not support SMART and again SMART is not for SCSI and SATA. For USB, there are possible ways in the API. But the programming is very complex to driver level. Knowledge about USB pipes, USB device classification and many other big deals. I have studied some codes written by a German programmer which is pretty good but I just could not understand. The coding is like a pile of alian language for me. But they have a group, mostly east Europens, working hard on it using VB6. But I could not remember their links. Other than writing codes, there are many company providing thumbs for anti-piracy purpose. They also give information and frameworks for developers. But I have tried none. But I am sure that a USB device even a mouse which is genuine could give a unique embadded serial number. If there is anyone interested in using USB device for anti-piracy purpose, I am very glad to know that we have the same idea. |
#5
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Determine USB HDD Serial Number (NOT Volume Serial!)
On Wed, 20 Jun 2007 18:40:09 -0000 Thein Myint Win
wrote in Message id: .com: If you dig deep enough in the Windows Registry, you could find many unique serial with vendor ID of every device or disks which have been attached to your computer. For bad devices, there is only one entry for multiple devices which have been attached. You can also execute this script from the command line, which will launch the device manager: set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 %windir%\system32\devmgmt.msc The above can be copied into a .cmd file. Execute it, then select (v)iew, show hidden devices. All the USB drives (and everything else that no longer exists) that have ever been connected can now be seen, albeit without their individual serial numbers. |
#6
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Determine USB HDD Serial Number (NOT Volume Serial!)
Previously Thein Myint Win wrote:
On Jun 20, 5:49 pm, Arno Wagner wrote: Previously Connah wrote: Hi all! I'm sure many of you rolled your eyes at the subject trying to recall how many times youv'e heard this question. But bear with because I THINK my question is at least slightly different from the typical post. I would like to obtain the manufactuer's embedded serial number (NOT the volume serial that changes with each format) of USB drives. I found some very handy code to obtain a regular SMART-enabled IDE drive's information in VB6 he http://vbnet.mvps.org/index.html?code/disk/smartide.htm However, when I run that code, it does not give me any information about, say, a flash drive that is connected to my USB port. Do all USB drives (both external hard drives with movable parts as well as flash memory drives) have an embedded serial number that can be accessed? If so, how can I obtain that information in Visual Basic 6? In not VB6, how about any other language? The drive is just a regular drive. But SMART cannot work over USB, since there is no command set extension for it. Except some vendor specific solutions that are non-portable. My ultimate goal is to be able to give out some USB thumb drives or external hard drives and be able to uniquely track them. ANY thoughts towards my goal would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! Well, the smartmontools (Linux, win-port available)do not give you the disk ID even for USB disks. Example: --- gate:/home/wagner# smartctl -i /dev/sdc smartctl version 5.36 [i686-pc-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-6 Bruce Allen Home page ishttp://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/ Device: ST316002 1A Version: 3.06 --- The detailed USB bus info also does not list the disk serial number. I would say it is possible that USB also does not support serial number querying for the USB storage class. I also have no idea whether USB flash-drives have serial numbers at all... Arno- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - The USB org clearly states that there should be a unique serial number to all devices. I found many devices, mouse, keyboard and flash drives without a unique serial no. But they did have a serial no, but the problem is all their devices have the same serial no. Most of them (nearly all of them) are made in China especially the cheap products. I think they simply duplicate the Serial Number. I call them bad devices. Agreed. But the world brend devices like Kingston, iOmega, ect... do have a unique serial no among their devices. It means that the serial numbers of two of the completely identical devices attached are not the same while the vendor ID is shown the same. I call them good devices. If you dig deep enough in the Windows Registry, you could find many unique serial with vendor ID of every device or disks which have been attached to your computer. For bad devices, there is only one entry for multiple devices which have been attached. However take note that for an USB HDD, this wil likely not be the disk's ID, but that opf the controller chip doung the (S)ATA to USB translation. Might be acceptable, depending on the application. Once, I have studied some API codes working around the USB interface. It is right that USB does not support SMART and again SMART is not for SCSI and SATA. SMART is for ATA and also for SATA. For USB, there are possible ways in the API. But the programming is very complex to driver level. Knowledge about USB pipes, USB device classification and many other big deals. I have studied some codes written by a German programmer which is pretty good but I just could not understand. The coding is like a pile of alian language for me. But they have a group, mostly east Europens, working hard on it using VB6. But I could not remember their links. Other than writing codes, there are many company providing thumbs for anti-piracy purpose. They also give information and frameworks for developers. But I have tried none. But I am sure that a USB device even a mouse which is genuine could give a unique embadded serial number. If there is anyone interested in using USB device for anti-piracy purpose, I am very glad to know that we have the same idea. I think that using USB for anti-piracy is a bad idea, just like any other token-based approach. You either need to provide good support or have your customers convinced enough of product quality to pay. Everything else is likely to fail. Arno |
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