On Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:26:30 -0700 MHR <mhullrich at gmail.com> took out a #2 pencil and scribbled: > Over the weekend, I had to make a technical support call on one > of my DVD burners, and at one point the recorded message > mentioned I should have my serial number handy. I thought there > was a way to read that from at least one piece of software on the > system, but I couldn't remember one and man -k on a number of > subjects was unrevealing. > > Can someone enlighten me (us)? > > Thanks. > > mhr You can try hdparm -i /dev/yourdevice You may need to run this as root. There is a field for Serial Number, but for my devices no serial number is provided. This may not help you, but it could work. Output from my system: [prata at crane ~]$ sudo hdparm -i /dev/hdc /dev/hdc: Model=Pioneer DVD-ROM ATAPIModel DVD-106S 011, FwRev=E1.14, SerialNo= Config={ Fixed Removeable DTR<=5Mbs DTR>10Mbs nonMagnetic }.....other info is there but is not relevant. HTH Alex White -- ethericalzen at gmail.com Life is a prison, death is a release