How do I read a disk directly with .Net?

Question

Is is possible to read a disk directly with .Net? By directly I mean via the device bypassing the file system. I think I would go about this by opening the device some way "\Device\Ide\IdeDeviceP2T0L0-1" for example.

If I can't open the device with a .NET api knowing which Win32 API to use would be helpful.

Answer 1

CreateFile has support for direct disk access. Read the notes under "Physical Disks and Volumes". You should be able to P/Invoke the call.

Note that Vista and Server 2008 have severely restricted this.