---
name: "nvme-wdc-drive-essentials"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "nvme-cli"
version: "3.2-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/nvme-wdc-drive-essentials"
---

# nvme-wdc-drive-essentials(1)

Retrieve WDC device's drive essentials bin files and save to a tar file.

## NAME

nvme-wdc-drive-essentials - Retrieve WDC device's drive essentials bin files and save to a tar file.

## SYNOPSIS

```
nvme [<global-options>] wdc drive-essentials <device>
                        [--dir-name=<DIRECTORY>, -d <DIRECTORY>]
```

## DESCRIPTION

For the NVMe device given, captures the drive essential bin files and saves them into a tar file. The tar file will be in the following format: DRIVE\_ESSENTIALS\_\<Serial Num\>\_\<FW Revision\>\_\<Date\>\_\<Time\>.tar.gz e.g. DRIVE\_ESSENTIALS\_A00FD8CA\_1048\_20170713\_091731.tar.gz

The \<device\> parameter is mandatory; NVMe character device (ex: /dev/nvme0).

This will only work on WDC devices supporting this feature. Results for any other device are undefined.

## OPTIONS

- \-d \<DIRECTORY\>, --dir-name=\<DIRECTORY\>

  Output directory; defaults to current working directory.

## GLOBAL OPTIONS

The following options are defined at the top-level nvme command and are available to this subcommand:

- \--dry-run

  Print the command that would be executed, but do not actually execute it.

- \--no-ioctl-probing

  Disable probing for 64-bit IOCTL support.

- \--no-retries

  Disable retry logic on transient errors.

- \-o \<fmt\>, --output-format=\<fmt\>

  Set the reporting format to *normal*, *tabular, 'json*, or *binary*. Only one output format may be used at a time.

- \--output-format-version=\<version\>

  Select the output format version. Version *1* uses the original field naming, while version *2* (default) provides more consistent and script-friendly field names. Other versions are rejected.

- \--quiet

  Suppress informational messages. Errors are still reported, and --quiet cancels any --verbose for the library log level.

- \--set-options=\<key=value\>\[,\<key=value\>...\]

  Set libnvme library options for this invocation. Supported keys are *force-4k*, *mi-probe-enabled*, *test-base-dir* and *test-sysfs-dir*.

- \--timeout=\<ms\>

  Set the timeout for the command in milliseconds. *infinite* or *-1* waits without a time limit (0xffffffff).

- \-v, --verbose

  Increase the level of detail in the output. May be specified multiple times to further increase verbosity.

These options can also be set as machine-wide defaults in [nvme-cli.conf(5)](/nvme-cli.conf/5.md). A command-line flag always overrides the file.

## EXAMPLES

• Gets the drive essentials data files from the device and saves the tar file in current directory (e.g. DRIVE\_ESSENTIALS\_A00FD8CA\_1048\_20170713\_091731.tar.gz):

```
# nvme wdc drive-essentials /dev/nvme0
```

• Gets the drive essentials data files from the device and saves the tar file to specified directory (e.g. /tmp/DRIVE\_ESSENTIALS\_A00FD8CA\_1048\_20170713\_091731):

```
# nvme wdc drive-essentials /dev/nvme0 -d /tmp/
```

## NVME

Part of the nvme-user suite.