Delphi - Change physical hdd serial hello friends, i am need chage the hdd physical serial, not volume serial, i am need the hdd physical serial change in delphi or if no solution in another language or any program make this. Board index » delphi » How to get the number of physical hard disk number. Sudianto Ate. Delphi Developer. Wed, 19 Dec 2007 00:01:20 GMT. How to get the number of physical hard disk number. Could anybody please tell me how to know what is the number of physical hard disk 'in the list of hard disks' depending on the drive letter.
JQL, I recently bookmarked this Q during my cleanup: it has code to get physical serial number of HDD. HTH.Snehanshu Comment from geobul Date: 02:00PM IST Comment Hi, The code below is not mine. I've got it from here (unfortunately haven't written down the name of the expert who posted it). It works for IDE disks ONLY!!! Regards, Geo // Get first IDE harddisk serial number function GetIdeSerialNumber: string; const IDENTIFYBUFFERSIZE = 512; type TIDERegs = packed record bFeaturesReg: BYTE; // Used for specifying SMART 'commands'.
BSectorCountReg: BYTE; // IDE sector count register bSectorNumberReg: BYTE; // IDE sector number register bCylLowReg: BYTE; // IDE low order cylinder value bCylHighReg: BYTE; // IDE high order cylinder value bDriveHeadReg: BYTE; // IDE drive/head register bCommandReg: BYTE; // Actual IDE command. BReserved: BYTE; // reserved for future use. Must be zero. End; TSendCmdInParams = packed record // Buffer size in bytes cBufferSize: DWORD; // Structure with drive register values. IrDriveRegs: TIDERegs; // Physical drive number to send command to (0,1,2,3). BDriveNumber: BYTE; bReserved: Array0.2 of Byte; dwReserved: Array0.3 of DWORD; bBuffer: Array0.0 of Byte; // Input buffer.
Hi Just be careful when talking about the hard drive serial number. When Microsoft talk about the hard drive serial number (accessible throught the file system object) they are not talking about the actual serial number of the drive. They are talking about a serial number that Microsoft Allocate when the drive is formatted. This can be either a positive or negative value.
When drive cloning software is used (drive copy etc) the drive serial number is also cloned - the FSO drive serial should more correctly be called the format serialno. Voodooman As I understand it: The Volume Serial Number (i.e. The serial number allocated by Microsoft when the drive is partitioned/formatted) can be cloned because it is Read/Write. The Drive Serial Number (i.e. The serial number allocated by the drive's manufacturer in the firmware) cannot be cloned as it is Read only. The problem seems to be that a Device Driver is required to access this information reliably. Unless anyone can come up with a definitive answer, it looks like I may be converting the C code in the link provided by arjanh because that seems to be able to do SCSI and IDE for most 32 bit Windows platforms.
The code and info supplied by Geobul makes very interesting reading and is very useful but I need both SCSI and IDE. The 1st link no longer works but, with a bit of digging on MSDN and I found most of the information. I will wait until after the weekend to make my choice because there is a lot of information to sift through on MSDN and elsewhere (and hope that someone can provide complete code before Monday). Many thanks John.
Hi Just a comment. I am interested in this myself because it would be a good way to License Software by locking it to the hardware. This is how Microsoft Product 'Activation' works by locking to the hardware. I used the drive serial number for a product I sell and encypted it with what Microsoft call the drive Serial No in the File System Object. I sold 17 licenses to a government department - they only ever registered 1 as all the machines were new and had the same alleged 'drive serial number' - so they just used the same RegCode!! Generally Speaking of course if you are selling to the public in general - locking to the Vol Serial No might be good as the drives would have to have been cloned - do all Dell Machines have the same Vol Serial No?
Voodooman I have a DLL (called Program Protector) that I wrote about 9 years ago, in Delphi 1 and later updated in Delphi 2, which is used mainly by one Software Publisher (and myself) to 'Register' software from various authors. It made it easy for the Publisher having just a single system of registration rather than each program having a different registration system! As a security meassure, Program Protector was never distributed outside of the small group of programmers writing for that Publisher. I am now upgrading Program Protector and want a method to tie the software to a particular computer - 'a la Microsoft'. Previously it was just tied to a User.
![Get Physical Hdd Serial Number Delphi Get Physical Hdd Serial Number Delphi](http://www.devlib.net/images/screenshots/tgetdiskserial-vcl-delphi2009-screenshot.gif)
Hence my question. I am also using other hardware serial numbers/information and will allow a number of changes, again 'a la Microsoft', before the software needs to be re-registered.
The problem I was having was with the HDD Manufacturer's serial number. The fact that it probably needs a separate VXD to work reliably on all win32 platforms could pose a problem. Re your thoughts on larger computer manufacturers. All of the large computer manufacturers, and a lot of the smaller ones, clone their hard drives for particular models. It is the sensible thing to do. So each distinct model will probably, but not necessarily, have a different Volume Serial Number.
It depends on the installed hardware. Therefore, with thousands of identical computers of the same model having the same Volume Serial Number, the Volume Serial Number becomes more or less useless as a method of locking the software to a particular computer, especially if selling into larger businesses or governement departments. Oh the joys of trying to stop people from pirating your software. Regards John.
Hi Here in the UK the government is not a problem - they dont pirate - they are audited as are most major organisations. Now - if you are selling to private people - what are the chances of two people who know each other having the same harddrive vol serial no? Not much chance. There are some pretty easy ways - one way is to tie the license key to the date/time creation of the directory your trial is installed in - there are some obvious problems with this - i.e. The user cannot do a reinstall - you would have to resissue a key.
I suppose the key question is - how many people who know each other are interested in your stuff? I guess the answer is to write software where an organisation only needs one copy and that is expensive enough that they dont want to give it to other business's because they paid a lot of money for it - all good ideas will be stolen!! VoodoomanHere in the UK the government is not a problem - they dont pirate - they are audited as are most major organisations. Now - if you are selling to private people - what are the chances of two people who know each other having the same harddrive vol serial no? Not much chance. JQL, If the discussion is about preventing piracy, then I believe that no matterwhat you do, people might still find work-arounds. Then come factors like what when the user replaces the harddisk?
Changes motherboard? And the list goes on. So, a better Idea would be to invest time and money in making the product better and perhaps provide quality support (users of pirated software wouldn't dare to contact you for support). Moral of the story: my suggestion would be to just add a simple inconvenience factor for pirated software and then spend more time and effort on a better product and better support.Shu:-). Shu You are right. Piracy will always exist in some form or other. The goal, as you so rightly point out, is to get as many people to pay for your software as possible.
As with virtually everything in life, there is no one right answer. What you must do is make it beneficial for the user to register/buy your software.
The problem being, what is of benefit to one user can be of no benefit to another. The first step is having a Registration System which most ordinary users can't circumvent whether they try re-installing it, or change the motherboard, or whatever. That is what I provide.
Giving you, the programmer, the time to add the extra 'benefits' to your software and support operation.:) Regards John. Hi 'Hey Joe, I've just got a great deal on an HP XXX Computer from Dixons, they were on special offer with £100 off. Why don't you get one for your daughter for Christmas? You can even borrow this great accounting package I picked up at the same time.' This happens virtually daily.
What he should have said was 'You can even steal this great accounting package.' Voodooman ZoneAlarm, a program I'm sure you've heard of, has a price tag of $39.95 with yearly updates at $19.95. There are cracks available for it. I know of programs that sell for less than £10 which have been cracked.
In my research I have found that cost is not necessarilly a factor in whether a piece of software gets cracked. It seems the main factors are desirability and challenge. Next those 100 (10%) who steal your software are thieves, common criminals in the eyes of the law. We need an education program to remind people of this fact. Though I must admit that it could be benficial if you can find a way to make them pay for your product at a later date. That payment may be in the form of something intangible like publicity not just cash. Regards John.
Hi John You are quite correct that there is a crack for Zone Alarm. Isnt this an indication of Zone Alarms success? If someone takes the time and effort to crack your program - you've made it - you are a success and hopefully a millionaire! I understand that the most successful shareware author of all time is Ward Mundy (come on Ward how much did you make?) who is reputed to have made $12m+ dollars out of two database programs Wampum (dbase clone) and Foxbase (a Foxpro clone).
If I remenber correctly Wampum was £50 ($80) and Foxbase was £120 ($190). I think the figures where something like 50k registrations of wampum and 100k registrations of Foxbase. This was before the Internet (late 80's and early 90's) - what copy protection was there - none! 170k honest citizens - sent off their international money orders!!!!!! Whilst I have to agree that times have changed and there is a whole lot less trust - most of my clients (all business people) think 'Crack' is probably a drug and would have no idea that they could 'Drug' a program.
Of course software piracy is theft - but like all problems with life we have to deal with it. Thanks for ths discussion it has resolved some problems for me with licensing my latest software. Its a £50($80) product and I am going for a simple registration key that is re-useable.
Am I a hopeful idiot - will more be stolen than sold - I dont think so - time will tell. S/W industry is very well comparable to the music/movie/entertainment industry. If Michael Jackson, Madonna (forgive me, but I am a fan) kept thinking about how to prevent 100 people from recording their first albums, the above line would not have their names. I feel the same applies to software. I agree with Voodooman, if someody feels your software is worthy of pirating, it shows that you have a quality product. Look at it this way: Joe works for XYZ Inc. XYZ's accounts dept had been looking for an accounting ackage for 100 representatives.
Joe had been illegally using your package and wanted to somehow payback for the 'robbery' he had committed. He recommends your package to the accounts dept, and due to your excellent support, your product gets finalized and you getorders for 100 copies. That's how I would like my products to get popular. And hence from the above example come two possibilities: 1) Fully functional x days trial software 2) Restricted functionality unlimited period trial software.Shu Psst.
Jim used to play with pirated copies of sim city and sim tower when in school and now that he started earning, he bought simcity and simtower at the age of 30 (only to discover that they don't offer any support for sim tower any more). Maxis wasn't at a loss when Jim played during his school days: he simply had no money to pay them then, so the only thing they could have achieved by preventing piracy was to let him find some other means of entertainment. S/W industry is very well comparable to the music/movie/entertainment industry. If Michael Jackson, Madonna (forgive me, but I am a fan) kept thinking about how to prevent 100 people from recording their first albums, the above line would not have their names. Shu You haven't offended me in any way. I felt that adding to the things I have already said may give away some of the ideas I have had which, after a fairly extensive trawl of the 'net, nobody else seems to have had (or at least written about). What I will say is that I used to have a computer business selling and servicing computers etc.
Virtually every house I went into had unlicenced or pirated software on their computer. These people weren't pirates (most pirates can fix their own computers so didn't need my services), these were ordinary, everday people. It was that which really opened my eyes to the real extent of the problem - seeing it at first hand. Voodooman may joke about the 'Hey Joe.'
Scenario above. The sad thing is it happens every day.
Borrowed from work, borrowed from a friend, borrowed from a neighbour, borrowed from a chap down the pub. All stolen, and they don't think they've done anything wrong. I am rather pleased about Saddam being captured. Hopefully Iraq will now have a chance of returning to some semblance of normality. Regards John.