Question

I want to read bytes directly off a hard drive, preferably using python. How can I do this, provided it is even possible. Also, can I write directly to a hard drive, and how?

I want to do this to make a complete clone of a hard drive, and then restoring from that backup. I’m quite certain there are easier ways to get what I want done, and this is partly simply curiosity 😉

Answer 1

On linux, you can open('/dev/sdX', 'r').

However, the easier way is using the dd commandline utility (but it will only work properly if both disks are exactly the same).