Thanks Corinna and Brian.

smartmontools does help - I can see make and model, which is definitely
helpful.

Oh, I guess I just didn't have blkid installed then. I'll fix that.

Brian,

I'd be happy to attempt implementing this, but I'm not sure where to
start. With the information you've given me I should be able to figure
something out, but I'm not sure how this is done in Linux/a POSIX
compliant way. Would be be through a file and directory structure or
through some libraries?

I know a little bit of C and C++, so if I do have to write a library I
should be able to muddle through, and probably learn quite a lot, but
I'm not sure quite where to start here, with either the Linux side or
the Cygwin side (would this be part of the Cygwin DLL?).

I'm aware this might not be the right mailing list, but would appreciate
if anyone knowledgeable in this area could give me a few pointers to
help me get started - I'd love to contribute more to Cygwin :)

Hamish