Device name
Updated: 09/12/2023 by Computer Hope
Alternatively known as a device file or special file, a device name is an identification that is given to the physical hardware device assigned by the operating system.
A device name provides an interface to peripheral devices such as parallel and serial ports, or access to a disk partition. For example, "hd" being the device name for an ATA hard drive.
Examples of device names
The following table lists Linux device names in the /dev hierarchy and are all examples of device names.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| fb | Frame buffer |
| fd | Floppy diskette or file descriptor. |
| hd | IDE (integrated drive electronics) driver, ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) hard drive, or ATAPI (AT Attachment Packet Interface) optical disc drive. |
| hda | Primary ATA. |
| hdb | Secondary ATA device. |
| hdc | Primary ATA device on the second channel. An example of how this may be listed: hdc1, which indicates first partition on primary ATA device. |
| lp | Printer. |
| parport, pp | Parallel ports. |
| pt | Pseudo-terminal (virtual terminal). |
| sd | SCSI (small computer system interface) mass storage. |
| sda | First registered SCSI device. An example of how this may be listed: sda4, which indicates the last partition on the first registered SCSI device. |
| ses | SCSI enclosure driver. |
| sg | Generic SCSI layer. |
| sr | SCSI ROM driver. |
| st | SCSI tape driver. |
| tty | Terminal. |
| ttyS | Terminal serial port driver. |
| ttyUSB | Terminal USB (universal serial bus) serial converter. |
Tip
See our reserved word definition for a listing of the device file names on Windows and MS-DOS computers.
Hardware terms, Operating System, Operating system terms, Reserved word