hdparm is a command-line utility for examining and changing parameters associated with ATA and SATA storage devices on Linux. It provides access to drive identification, power management, caching and other hardware settings.
Originally developed for IDE hard disks, hdparm remains useful for inspecting and managing compatible modern ATA devices. It communicates with the Linux storage subsystem and can retrieve information that is not always available through general-purpose disk management applications.
The utility also offers basic performance measurements, allowing users to assess buffered disk reads and cached reads. However, its benchmarking functions are relatively simple and should not be confused with comprehensive storage performance testing.
Some hdparm commands change low-level hardware settings and can affect performance, stability or stored data. Advanced operations should only be used when their effects are understood.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Device identification – retrieve ATA identification information, supported capabilities and firmware details.
- Drive information – display device geometry, sector information and other storage parameters.
- Power management – inspect and configure supported Advanced Power Management settings.
- Standby control – configure idle timers and request supported standby or sleep states.
- Write caching – examine and modify drive write-cache settings on compatible hardware.
- Read-ahead configuration – inspect and adjust filesystem read-ahead settings.
- Performance testing – measure buffered disk reads and cached read throughput.
- Security features – access supported ATA security commands, including locking and secure erasure operations.
- Device configuration overlay – examine supported DCO information and available drive capabilities.
- Host Protected Area – inspect and manage supported maximum-address settings.
- Drive feature control – access additional ATA features through specialised commands.
Website: sourceforge.net/projects/hdparm
Support:
Developer: Mark Lord
License: hdparm License (BSD-style)
hdparm is written in C. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Handy Hard Disk Utilities | |
|---|---|
| NVMe-CLI | NVM-Express user space tooling |
| Smartmontools | Control and monitor storage systems using S.M.A.R.T. |
| scrutiny | WebUI for smartd S.M.A.R.T monitoring |
| openSeaChest | Perform various operations on SATA, SAS, NVMe, and USB storage devices |
| GSmartControl | Graphical user interface for smartctl |
| hdparm | Tune hard disk parameters for high performance |
| sg3_utils | Utilities that send SCSI commands to devices |
| sdparm | Accesses SCSI device parameters |
| nwipe | Secure disk eraser |
| Bonnie++ | Toolkit for testing hard drive and file system performance |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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