Get serial numbers of connected USB devices
Information about USB Devices is stored differently under Linux then macOS:
In Linux,
usb-devices
is abash
script that essentially reads a bunch of text files, symlinked to/sys/bus/usb/devices/usb*
, that contain information about the USB Devices and formats it in the output you see under Linux.-
In macOS, it does not have such a script as it doesn't store the information in the same manner. However, if you want to output information about USB Devices that are enumerated by the OS, in Terminal, then use the following command:
system_profiler SPUSBDataType
If a USB Device has a serial number it will be shown in the output.
As mentioned by Allan in his comment, you can use the following command to minimize the output to include relevant portions of the device information that contain the device name and serial number with a bit of additional info.
system_profiler SPUSBDataType | grep "Serial Number" -B5
Note that doing this does obscure some of the device information as compared to the info outputted by usb-devices
, although it may be unnecessary info depending on your needs.
As an example, here is the usb-devices
output, in Linux, for an 8 GB USB Flash Drive:
T: Bus=03 Lev=02 Prnt=03 Port=00 Cnt=01 Dev#= 6 Spd=480 MxCh= 0
D: Ver= 2.00 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=64 #Cfgs= 1
P: Vendor=0781 ProdID=5530 Rev=01.26
S: Manufacturer=SanDisk
S: Product=Cruzer
S: SerialNumber=20042214412B1A33690E
C: #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=80 MxPwr=200mA
I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=08(stor.) Sub=06 Prot=50 Driver=usb-storage
Same device under macOS using system_profiler SPUSBDataType
:
Cruzer:
Product ID: 0x5530
Vendor ID: 0x0781 (SanDisk Corporation)
Version: 1.26
Serial Number: 20042214412B1A33690E
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: SanDisk
Location ID: 0x1d110000 / 7
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 200
Capacity: 8 GB (8,004,304,896 bytes)
Removable Media: Yes
Detachable Drive: Yes
BSD Name: disk3
Partition Map Type: MBR (Master Boot Record)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported
Volumes:
disk3s1:
Capacity: 2.97 GB (2,966,634,496 bytes)
BSD Name: disk3s1
Content: 0x17
NO NAME:
Capacity: 110.1 MB (110,100,480 bytes)
Available: 4.1 MB (4,124,672 bytes)
Writable: Yes
File System: MS-DOS FAT16
BSD Name: disk3s2
Mount Point: /Volumes/NO NAME
Content: DOS_FAT_12
disk3s3:
Capacity: 3.92 GB (3,923,232,768 bytes)
BSD Name: disk3s3
Content: Linux
Output under macOS using system_profiler SPUSBDataType | grep "Serial Number" -B5
:
Cruzer:
Product ID: 0x5530
Vendor ID: 0x0781 (SanDisk Corporation)
Version: 1.26
Serial Number: 20042214412B1A33690E