Get all drives in C#

In C#, you can retrieve information about all drives on a system using the DriveInfo.GetDrives() method. This method returns an array of DriveInfo objects representing all logical drives on the current system, including hard drives, network drives, CD-ROMs, and other storage devices.

Syntax

Following is the syntax for getting all drives −

DriveInfo[] drives = DriveInfo.GetDrives();

To iterate through the drives and access their properties −

foreach (DriveInfo drive in drives) {
   Console.WriteLine(drive.Name);
}

Using GetDrives() to Display Drive Names

The simplest approach is to get all drive names and display them −

using System;
using System.IO;

public class Demo {
   public static void Main() {
      var drives = DriveInfo.GetDrives();
      Console.WriteLine("Available drives:");
      foreach (DriveInfo drive in drives) {
         Console.WriteLine(drive.Name);
      }
   }
}

The output of the above code on Windows is −

Available drives:
C:\
D:\
E:\

Using GetDrives() with Detailed Drive Information

You can access additional properties of each drive such as drive type, available space, and total size −

using System;
using System.IO;

public class DriveDetails {
   public static void Main() {
      DriveInfo[] drives = DriveInfo.GetDrives();
      
      foreach (DriveInfo drive in drives) {
         Console.WriteLine("Drive: " + drive.Name);
         Console.WriteLine("Type: " + drive.DriveType);
         
         if (drive.IsReady) {
            Console.WriteLine("Total Size: " + (drive.TotalSize / (1024 * 1024 * 1024)) + " GB");
            Console.WriteLine("Available Space: " + (drive.AvailableFreeSpace / (1024 * 1024 * 1024)) + " GB");
         }
         Console.WriteLine();
      }
   }
}

The output of the above code is −

Drive: C:\
Type: Fixed
Total Size: 465 GB
Available Space: 298 GB

Drive: D:\
Type: CDRom

Using GetDrives() to Filter Ready Drives Only

Some drives may not be ready (like empty CD drives). You can filter to show only ready drives −

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;

public class ReadyDrives {
   public static void Main() {
      var readyDrives = DriveInfo.GetDrives().Where(d => d.IsReady);
      
      Console.WriteLine("Ready drives:");
      foreach (DriveInfo drive in readyDrives) {
         Console.WriteLine($"{drive.Name} - {drive.DriveFormat} ({drive.DriveType})");
      }
   }
}

The output of the above code is −

Ready drives:
C:\ - NTFS (Fixed)

DriveInfo Properties

Conclusion

The DriveInfo.GetDrives() method provides an easy way to enumerate all drives on a system and access their properties. Always check the IsReady property before accessing size-related properties to avoid exceptions on drives that are not ready for operations.