Frequent Question: What Does Sda Stand for in Linux?

The term sd stands for SCSI disk, that is to say, it means Small Computer System Interface disk. So, sda means the first SCSI hard disk. Likewise,/hda, the individual partition in the disk takes names as sda1, sda2, etc.. The active partition is indicated by an * in the middle column.

What is SDA SDB and SDC in Linux?

The first hard drive detected by a Linux system carries the sda label. In numerical terms, it is hard drive 0 (zero; counting begins from 0, not 1). The second hard drive is sdb, the third drive, sdc, etc. In the screenshot below, there are two hard drives detected by the installer – sda and sdb.

What is the difference between SDA and HDA in Linux?

If you’re talking about drives under Linux, then hda (and hdb, hdc, etc.) are IDE/ATA-1 drives whereas sda (and scb, etc.) are SCSI or SATA drives. You’ll still see the IDE drives floating around but most new systems (and new drives) are SATA or SCSI.