[tlug] Probing storage devices

[Frank Bennett <bennett@example.com>]

I have a question related to the backup system thingme.  From
/proc/partitions, I can get a list of device names. I would like to identify
devices with removable media, and if possible check whether each is a CD-ROM
or an MO.  In particular, I'm unsure how to distinguish, for certain-sure, an
internal MO from a hard disk.  This is VERY important, because the write to an
MO will be done using dd to the raw device.  Is there a reliable and uniform
means of extracting information from specific devices under Linux?

Also, I have a worry about the /dev/sg0 device.  Is there a possibility that
writes to this device by cdrecord will be misdirected and end up scrambling a
SCSI hard disk?  I could just refuse to run on any machine that has SCSI
devices that show up when PCMCIA and USB are down, but after coming this
far, I'd rather not flake out.

Hope someone can help,
Frank
Nagoya