SG\_RMSN(8) SG3\_UTILS SG\_RMSN(8)

# [NAME](#NAME)

sg\_rmsn - send SCSI READ MEDIA SERIAL NUMBER command

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**sg\_rmsn** \[*--help*] \[*--raw*] \[*--readonly*] \[*--verbose*] \[*--version*] *DEVICE*

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

Send a SCSI READ MEDIA SERIAL NUMBER command to *DEVICE* and outputs the response.

This command is described in SPC-3 found at www.t10.org . It was originally added to SPC-3 in revision 11 (2003/2/12). It is not an mandatory command and the author has not seen any SCSI devices that support it.

# [OPTIONS](#OPTIONS)

Arguments to long options are mandatory for short options as well.

[**-h**, **--help**](#h)

output the usage message then exit.

[**-r**, **--raw**](#r)

sends the serial number (if found) to stdout. This output may contain non-printable characters (e.g. the serial number is padded with NULLs at the end so its length is a multiple of 4). The default action is to print the serial number out in ASCII-HEX with ASCII characters to the right. All error messages are sent to stderr.

[**-R**, **--readonly**](#R)

opens the DEVICE read-only rather than read-write which is the default. The Linux sg driver needs read-write access for the SCSI READ MEDIA SERIAL NUMBER command but other access methods may require read-only access.

[**-v**, **--verbose**](#v)

increase the level of verbosity, (i.e. debug output).

[**-V**, **--version**](#V)

print the version string and then exit.

# [NOTES](#NOTES)

Device identification information is also found in a standard INQUIRY response and its VPD pages (see sg\_vpd). The relevant VPD pages are the "device identification page" (VPD page 0x83) and the "unit serial number" page (VPD page 0x80).

The MMC-4 command set for CD/DVD/HD-DVD/BD drives has a "media serial number" feature (0x109) \[and a "logical unit serial number" feature]. These can be viewed with sg\_get\_config.

# [EXIT STATUS](#EXIT_STATUS)

The exit status of sg\_rmsn is 0 when it is successful. Otherwise see the [sg3\_utils(8)](/man/enterprise-packages/sg3-utils/sg3_utils.8) man page.

# [AUTHORS](#AUTHORS)

Written by Douglas Gilbert.

# [REPORTING BUGS](#REPORTING_BUGS)

Report bugs to <dgilbert at interlog dot com>.

# [COPYRIGHT](#COPYRIGHT)

Copyright © 2005-2012 Douglas Gilbert  
This software is distributed under a BSD-2-Clause license. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

**sg\_vpd(sg3\_utils), sg\_get\_config(sg3\_utils)**

November 2012 sg3\_utils-1.31

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Document: sg_rmsn(8) from sg3-utils 1.49-r3 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://github.com/doug-gilbert/sg3_utils.git