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--- general_commands [2024/01/01 19:00] – [arp] gman
+++ general_commands [2024/06/19 22:27] (current) – gman
@@ Line 43: / Line 43: @@
 pending
+----
+===== dd =====
+==== wipe a disk ====
+Fill the disk with all zeros (may take a while; it switches every bit to 0):
+<code>
+dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX bs=1M
+# replace X with the target drive letter.
+</code>
+To secure wipe, populate the entire disk with random data rather than zeros (takes longer):
+<code>
+dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sdX bs=1M
+# replace X with the target drive letter.
+</code>
+Sincd ''dd'' does not have a verbose setting, you can get some visual feedback with this (run each in a separate term window):
+<code>
+watch vmstat -d
+htop
+</code>
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