Linux: Finding all storage devices attached to a machine

Question

I'm trying to find all of the writable storage devices attached to a given machine, irrespective of if they are mounted.

I was curious if there is a better solution I could use?

Answer 1

1. Use /proc/partitions first. This will list all the block devices and partitions that your system recognizes. 
2. Try using file -s <device> to determine what kind of filesystem is present on the partition, if there be any.