How to open disks in windows and read data at low level?

vegan_vicky

I know in linux it is as simple as /dev/sda but in Windows how do you open a disk and start reading data at the low level? In python I've tried: f = open("K:", "r") and I get this error: Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> IOError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'K:' I get this error even as administrator.

Originally asked by nobody on Stack Exchange (stackoverflow) (CC BY-SA 4.0).

uphilltech

Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:

From Microsoft Support - INFO: Direct Drive Access Under Win32 To open a physical hard drive for direct disk access (raw I/O) in a Win32-based application, use a device name of the form \\.\PhysicalDriveN where N is 0, 1, 2, and so forth, representing each of the physical drives in the system. To open a logical drive, direct access is of the form \\.\X: where X: is a hard-drive partition letter, floppy disk drive, or CD-ROM drive.

Full answer by Jim Garrison: https://stackoverflow.stackexchange.com/a/6523306 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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