Score:1

What does the “sd” in “/dev/sdX” stand for?

cn flag

It seems like the answer might be “SCSI Device” from this thread: differences between hda to sd0. I have been searching for a more concrete link.

Score:2
in flag

You are correct. sd* means SCSI Disk. Dell has a full glossary available in multiple languages, and this is a page I generally send people to when they have questions about the Linux device naming convention.

In addition to sd*, there are:

  • dev/fd* - Floppy drives
  • dev/scd* or /dev/sr* - SCSI CD-ROMs
  • dev/hd* - IDE drives
  • dev/mmcblk* - SDHC card on PCMCIA
Score:0
cn flag

I have found a link that I trust more: NetBSD FAQs

It states:

By default, SCSI devices under NetBSD are numbered starting from 0 in the order of SCSI ID number.


From this I believe that sd stands for SCSI device or SCSI ID. Notice in the first link that this naming convention has been adopted by other devices, including USB and the now rarely used FireWire

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