Monitoring and reporting hard disk drives identification using radio frequency

A method for automated electronic tracking and protection of hard disk drives in a computer, the computer having a last known configuration including last known serial numbers corresponding to each of the hard disk drives, the method utilizing hard disk drives identification for monitoring and reporting the hard disk drives presence in the computer, the method comprising the steps of:

• a) performing a power-up sequence upon power-up of the computer;
• b) detecting the hard disk drives in the computer;
• c) identifying the type of each of the hard disk drives;
• d) issuing a system call to a device driver in order to retrieve the identification of each of the hard disk drives;
• e) forming a serial number for each of the hard disk drives from the identification retrieved from each of the hard disk drives;
• f) comparing the serial numbers with the corresponding last known serial numbers in order to determine if any of the hard disk drives has been replaced;
• g) providing the serial numbers to a display in order to alert a computer user of a change in the hard disk drives if a mismatch is found between the serial numbers and the corresponding last known serial numbers;
• and
• h) copying the serial numbers to an RF-enabled memory in order to log a current configuration of the computer if the mismatch between the serial numbers and the corresponding last known serial numbers is found.

A system for automated electronic tracking and protection of hard disk drives in a computer, the computer having a last known configuration including last known serial numbers corresponding to each of the hard disk drives, the system comprising:

• means for retrieving current serial numbers from the hard disk drives;
• a radio frequency (RF) enabled memory coupled to the retrieving means, the RF enabled memory for storing the last known serial numbers and for updating the last known serial numbers with the current serial numbers;
• an RF link from the RF enabled memory to an RF reader, the RF reader for receiving the updated last known serial numbers;
• and means for reporting the serial numbers coupled to the retrieving means.

A computer readable medium including program instructions for retrieving and reporting serial numbers of hard disk drives in a computer system, the program instructions for:

• a) electronically obtaining the serial number of each of the hard disk drives;
• b) providing the serial number of each of the hard disk drives to a display via a browser;
• and
• c) copying the serial number of each of the hard disk drives to a radio frequency (RF) enabled memory, wherein the serial numbers can be logged utilizing an RF reader means.

A computer readable medium including program instructions for automated electronic tracking and protection of hard disk drives in a computer, the computer having a last known configuration including last known serial numbers corresponding to each of the hard disk drives, the method utilizing hard disk drives identification for monitoring and reporting the hard disk drives presence, the program instructions for:

• a) performing a power-up sequence upon power-up of the computer;
• b) detecting the hard disk drives in the computer;
• c) identifying the type of each of the hard disk drives;
• d) issuing a system call to a device driver in order to retrieve the identification of each of the hard disk drives;
• e) forming a serial number for each of the hard disk drives from the identification retrieved from each of the hard disk drives;
• f) comparing the serial numbers with the corresponding last known serial numbers in order to determine if any of the hard disk drives has been replaced;
• g) providing the serial numbers to a display in order to alert a computer user of a change in the hard disk drives if a mismatch is found between the serial numbers and the corresponding last known serial numbers;
• and
• h) copying the serial numbers to an RF-enabled memory in order to log a current configuration of the computer if the mismatch between the serial numbers and the corresponding last known serial numbers is found.