Hi all.

I was once looking for getting the HDD serial number without using WMI, and I found it. The code I found and posted on StackOverFlow.com works very well on 32 bit Windows, both XP and Vista. The trouble only begins when I try to get the serail number on 64 bit OSs (Vista Ultimate 64, specifically). The code returns String.Empty, or a Space all the time.

Anyone got an idea how to fix this?

EDIT:

I used the tools Dave Cluderay suggested, with interesting results:

Here is the output from DiskId32, on Windows XP SP2 32-bit:

To get all details use "diskid32 /d"
Trying to read the drive IDs using physical access with admin rights
Drive 0 - Primary Controller -  - Master drive
Drive Model Number________________: [MAXTOR STM3160215AS]
Drive Serial Number_______________: [            6RA26XK3]
Drive Controller Revision Number__: [3.AAD]
Controller Buffer Size on Drive___: 2097152 bytes
Drive Type________________________: Fixed
Drive Size________________________: 160041885696 bytes

Trying to read the drive IDs using the SCSI back door

Drive 4 - Tertiary Controller -  - Master drive
Drive Model Number________________: [MAXTOR STM3160215AS]
Drive Serial Number_______________: [            6RA26XK3]
Drive Controller Revision Number__: [3.AAD]
Controller Buffer Size on Drive___: 2097152 bytes
Drive Type________________________: Fixed
Drive Size________________________: 160041885696 bytes

Trying to read the drive IDs using physical access with zero rights

**** STORAGE_DEVICE_DESCRIPTOR for drive 0 ****
Vendor Id = []
Product Id = [MAXTOR STM3160215AS]
Product Revision = [3.AAD]
Serial Number = []

**** DISK_GEOMETRY_EX for drive 0 ****
Disk is fixed
DiskSize = 160041885696

Trying to read the drive IDs using Smart

Drive 0 - Primary Controller -  - Master drive

Drive Model Number________________: [MAXTOR STM3160215AS]
Drive Serial Number_______________: [            6RA26XK3]
Drive Controller Revision Number__: [3.AAD]
Controller Buffer Size on Drive___: 2097152 bytes
Drive Type________________________: Fixed
Drive Size________________________: 160041885696 bytes

Hard Drive Serial Number__________:             6RA26XK3

Hard Drive Model Number___________: MAXTOR STM3160215AS

And DiskId32 run on Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit:

To get all details use "diskid32 /d"

Trying to read the drive IDs using physical access with admin rights

Trying to read the drive IDs using the SCSI back door

Trying to read the drive IDs using physical access with zero rights

**** STORAGE_DEVICE_DESCRIPTOR for drive 0 ****
Vendor Id = [MAXTOR S]
Product Id = [TM3160215AS]
Product Revision = [3.AA]
Serial Number = []

**** DISK_GEOMETRY_EX for drive 0 ****
Disk is fixed
DiskSize = 160041885696

Trying to read the drive IDs using Smart

Hard Drive Serial Number__________:

Hard Drive Model Number___________:

Notice how much lesser the information is on Vista, and how the Serial Number is not returned. Also the other tool, EnumDisk, refers to my hard disks on Vista as "SCSI" as opposed to "ATA" on Windows XP.

Any ideas?

EDIT 2:

I'm posting the results from EnumDisks:

On Windows XP SP2 32-bit:

Properties for Device 1

Device ID: IDE\DiskMAXTOR_STM3160215AS_____________________3.AAD___

Adapter Properties
------------------
Bus Type       : ATA
Max. Tr. Length: 0x20000
Max. Phy. Pages: 0xffffffff
Alignment Mask : 0x1

Device Properties
-----------------
Device Type     : Direct Access Device (0x0)
Removable Media : No
Product ID      : MAXTOR STM3160215AS
Product Revision: 3.AAD

Inquiry Data from Pass Through
------------------------------
Device Type: Direct Access Device (0x0)
Vendor ID  : MAXTOR S
Product ID : TM3160215AS
Product Rev: 3.AA
Vendor Str :



***  End of Device List