[SOLVED] Using DD to erase a flash drive

jnbb · 10-03-2012, 12:44 PM

Flash memory commonly has 0xFF as the erased state of its memory bytes. I can use dd to erase to 0x00 thus: dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX. How can I write all 0xFF characters to the device?

frieza · 10-03-2012, 12:48 PM

tbh i would use dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sdX then format it.

jnbb · 10-03-2012, 12:55 PM

Thanks for the urandom hint but I'd still like to know if there's a way to write 0xFF

TobiSGD · 10-03-2012, 01:12 PM

You can use dc3dd (available in many distro's repositories) to write any pattern you want to a file. Assuming your flash drive is /dev/sdb:

Code:

dc3dd pattern=FF of=/dev/sdb

jnbb · 10-03-2012, 01:29 PM

Many thanks - just what I want

guanx · 10-03-2012, 01:44 PM

Instead of installing a new software for every task, you can also combine existing tools

Code:

tr '\000' '\377' < /dev/zero | dd ...

jefro · 10-03-2012, 02:39 PM

Pretty sure there is a way to force an exact stream to a device with dd.