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Does running dd if=/dev/zero often can damage the drive?


How to zero out a drive?Can I securely erase a hard drive by running `wipe` against `/dev/sdb`?I can't format disk in USB floppy driveCan't recover formatted Ext4 partition file system. :( Suggestions?Can I dd if=/dev/sda to of=/dev/sdc3 (drive to partition)Extremely low HDD read/write speedNeed help migrating hard drive using UbuntuCan't mount hard drive; “an operation is already pending”Is it safe to do dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/<destination partition>4TB HDD unable to mount anymore













2















Sometimes I zeroed my HDD once a month, using dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda command, and start over again.



Don't worry, I've always backup my file onto external drive, so it's not a problem.



I often see advise to not format regularly because it will damaged the drive, I used dd if=/dev/zero command which I assume a low level format?



Does zeroing drive with dd count as low level format, more importantly Is it safe to zero a HDD regularly?










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    2















    Sometimes I zeroed my HDD once a month, using dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda command, and start over again.



    Don't worry, I've always backup my file onto external drive, so it's not a problem.



    I often see advise to not format regularly because it will damaged the drive, I used dd if=/dev/zero command which I assume a low level format?



    Does zeroing drive with dd count as low level format, more importantly Is it safe to zero a HDD regularly?










    share|improve this question









    New contributor




    Ridgwell J. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
    Check out our Code of Conduct.























      2












      2








      2








      Sometimes I zeroed my HDD once a month, using dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda command, and start over again.



      Don't worry, I've always backup my file onto external drive, so it's not a problem.



      I often see advise to not format regularly because it will damaged the drive, I used dd if=/dev/zero command which I assume a low level format?



      Does zeroing drive with dd count as low level format, more importantly Is it safe to zero a HDD regularly?










      share|improve this question









      New contributor




      Ridgwell J. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.












      Sometimes I zeroed my HDD once a month, using dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda command, and start over again.



      Don't worry, I've always backup my file onto external drive, so it's not a problem.



      I often see advise to not format regularly because it will damaged the drive, I used dd if=/dev/zero command which I assume a low level format?



      Does zeroing drive with dd count as low level format, more importantly Is it safe to zero a HDD regularly?







      hard-drive format dd






      share|improve this question









      New contributor




      Ridgwell J. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.











      share|improve this question









      New contributor




      Ridgwell J. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question








      edited yesterday







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      asked 2 days ago









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          dd is not a low level format, it's just writing all zeroes to the entire disk. A low level format would be like running ATA Secure Erase. Additionally, there are also an even lower level format to modify the sector/cylinder definitions that you really don't want to go to.



          Running dd on entire disk shouldn't damage the drive. It would increase the wear and tear since HDD contains moving parts, but modern HDD are pretty long lived that this shouldn't really matter in practice.



          If by "hard drive" you actually mean SSD though, do note that SSD suffers from wear and tear much more than HDD. The SSD memory cells will wear out faster if you do lots of writes. Additionally, writing to entire SSD is essentially pointless in SSD due to wear leveling. I'd recommend using full disk encryption if you're using SSD, and to format you can simply discard your decryption key. ATA Secure Erase on SSD usually is implemented with encryption this way.






          share|improve this answer
























          • FYI I used hdd—not ssd, so it is not affecting much right? Thanks for your answer :)

            – Ridgwell J.
            yesterday











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          dd is not a low level format, it's just writing all zeroes to the entire disk. A low level format would be like running ATA Secure Erase. Additionally, there are also an even lower level format to modify the sector/cylinder definitions that you really don't want to go to.



          Running dd on entire disk shouldn't damage the drive. It would increase the wear and tear since HDD contains moving parts, but modern HDD are pretty long lived that this shouldn't really matter in practice.



          If by "hard drive" you actually mean SSD though, do note that SSD suffers from wear and tear much more than HDD. The SSD memory cells will wear out faster if you do lots of writes. Additionally, writing to entire SSD is essentially pointless in SSD due to wear leveling. I'd recommend using full disk encryption if you're using SSD, and to format you can simply discard your decryption key. ATA Secure Erase on SSD usually is implemented with encryption this way.






          share|improve this answer
























          • FYI I used hdd—not ssd, so it is not affecting much right? Thanks for your answer :)

            – Ridgwell J.
            yesterday
















          4














          dd is not a low level format, it's just writing all zeroes to the entire disk. A low level format would be like running ATA Secure Erase. Additionally, there are also an even lower level format to modify the sector/cylinder definitions that you really don't want to go to.



          Running dd on entire disk shouldn't damage the drive. It would increase the wear and tear since HDD contains moving parts, but modern HDD are pretty long lived that this shouldn't really matter in practice.



          If by "hard drive" you actually mean SSD though, do note that SSD suffers from wear and tear much more than HDD. The SSD memory cells will wear out faster if you do lots of writes. Additionally, writing to entire SSD is essentially pointless in SSD due to wear leveling. I'd recommend using full disk encryption if you're using SSD, and to format you can simply discard your decryption key. ATA Secure Erase on SSD usually is implemented with encryption this way.






          share|improve this answer
























          • FYI I used hdd—not ssd, so it is not affecting much right? Thanks for your answer :)

            – Ridgwell J.
            yesterday














          4












          4








          4







          dd is not a low level format, it's just writing all zeroes to the entire disk. A low level format would be like running ATA Secure Erase. Additionally, there are also an even lower level format to modify the sector/cylinder definitions that you really don't want to go to.



          Running dd on entire disk shouldn't damage the drive. It would increase the wear and tear since HDD contains moving parts, but modern HDD are pretty long lived that this shouldn't really matter in practice.



          If by "hard drive" you actually mean SSD though, do note that SSD suffers from wear and tear much more than HDD. The SSD memory cells will wear out faster if you do lots of writes. Additionally, writing to entire SSD is essentially pointless in SSD due to wear leveling. I'd recommend using full disk encryption if you're using SSD, and to format you can simply discard your decryption key. ATA Secure Erase on SSD usually is implemented with encryption this way.






          share|improve this answer













          dd is not a low level format, it's just writing all zeroes to the entire disk. A low level format would be like running ATA Secure Erase. Additionally, there are also an even lower level format to modify the sector/cylinder definitions that you really don't want to go to.



          Running dd on entire disk shouldn't damage the drive. It would increase the wear and tear since HDD contains moving parts, but modern HDD are pretty long lived that this shouldn't really matter in practice.



          If by "hard drive" you actually mean SSD though, do note that SSD suffers from wear and tear much more than HDD. The SSD memory cells will wear out faster if you do lots of writes. Additionally, writing to entire SSD is essentially pointless in SSD due to wear leveling. I'd recommend using full disk encryption if you're using SSD, and to format you can simply discard your decryption key. ATA Secure Erase on SSD usually is implemented with encryption this way.







          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered 2 days ago









          Lie RyanLie Ryan

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          • FYI I used hdd—not ssd, so it is not affecting much right? Thanks for your answer :)

            – Ridgwell J.
            yesterday



















          • FYI I used hdd—not ssd, so it is not affecting much right? Thanks for your answer :)

            – Ridgwell J.
            yesterday

















          FYI I used hdd—not ssd, so it is not affecting much right? Thanks for your answer :)

          – Ridgwell J.
          yesterday





          FYI I used hdd—not ssd, so it is not affecting much right? Thanks for your answer :)

          – Ridgwell J.
          yesterday










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