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How do I check my hard disk Revolutions Per Minute (RPM) speed from a Linux shell prompt without opening my server case? any other third party utility please let me know.

I referenced some other articles. they give only model number, serial number and disk space, but I need Hard disk RPM speed using shell script. any other Java program

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    This link might help you :: cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-find-hard-drive-model-rpm-speed
    – ArunMu
    Dec 14, 2010 at 5:33
  • I suggest smartctl to determine the hard disk make and model, and from there, Google. Also, why are we answering in the comments? Dec 14, 2010 at 6:13
  • @Slartibartfast, because some comments may not be an answer but a suggestion, they can always be moved to an answer so they can be accepted as so. He did say this "might" help. I do this when I am guessing at a solution and don't know for sure. Keeps the answer list short and the topic cleaned up.
    – Moab
    Dec 14, 2010 at 16:31
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    Just one question: Why? Jan 8, 2014 at 3:48

4 Answers 4

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# hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Rotation

Nominal Media Rotation Rate: 7200

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  • Nice, although some of my disk drives don't report that. For instance, my Seagate ST3500630AS (from 2005), WD WD5000AAVS-00ZTB0, and Hitachi HDT725032VLA380 (no idea when it was made) don't. My newer drives do, including a WD black from 2015 or so and my Hitachi Hitachi HDP725050GLA360. I suppose I can look it up from the drive model numbers though.
    – Wyatt Ward
    Aug 17, 2020 at 21:25
  • this will just tell you what the manufacturer says and not the truth :)
    – Zibri
    Feb 1, 2023 at 22:29
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If you want to know the disk's actual RPM, analyze the sound. An X rpm drive will have a noise peak at (X/60) Hz.

Some models report this information through SMART:

# smartctl -i /dev/sda
…
Rotation Rate:    5400 rpm
…

If not your best bet would be to obtain the disk vendor and model (e.g. from /sys/block/sda/device/model) and look it up.

The rpm figure is pretty useless, though. Are you sure that's what you're after? What are you trying to achieve?

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  • Nice idea, but why do you say that the rpm value is useless? Surely it will significantly affect the both the random and sequential read/write performance of the drive?
    – sblair
    Jan 28, 2011 at 0:37
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    @sblair: If you want performance indications, run a benchmark. Rpm is just one of many factors in performance, what decision would you take on the basis of rpm? Jan 28, 2011 at 18:31
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    @sblair It doesn't because areal density varies. It does affect read latency. Jan 8, 2014 at 3:54
  • Can anyone update the article link? SPCR has apparently changed their website's structure, and the URL here doesn't indicate what the article was called. I'm actually looking for how the sound analysis was done.
    – myxal
    Jan 2, 2022 at 10:41
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    @myxal The methodology I was citing may or may not have moved to another article, but I replaced the link by an archive.org link. Jan 2, 2022 at 11:40
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From here: hdparm -tT /dev/sdx.

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  • This doesn't show rpm, it shows semi-meaningful disk read timings. (But this may be what Saran is in fact after.) Dec 15, 2010 at 0:31
  • this will just tell you what the manufacturer says and not the truth :)
    – Zibri
    Feb 1, 2023 at 22:30
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All the answers above, will tell you what the "manufacturer says".

To know the truth, fire up on your phone a program like Spectroid. Zoom in horizontally so you can see the range between 0 and 200 hz. On a 7200 RPM drive you will see a 120Hz frequency (12060=7200rpm) On a 5400 RPM drive you will see a 90Hz frequency (9060=5400rpm)

You will find that some drives are slower than 5400 even if marked as 5400.

Here is my 7200 14 TB HD: 120Hz * 60 = 7200 RPM

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