[ale] How do I fill a new hard drive with random data to burn it in?

[Ron Frazier (ALE)]

Thanks for the note.  I found the following online which shows how to run dd with time to get the time used when done and also shows how to check on the progress.

time dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sdb

Checking on progress

The dd command doesn’t give us any useful feedback whilst it’s running, but we can force it to cough up some useful data by prodding it with a USR1 signal. Assuming you only have one instance of dd running we can use:

kill -USR1 `pidof dd`

(Note, they are backticks around the pidof dd command.)

From:

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/duncanelliot/entry/using_dd_and_urandom_to_write_random_data_to_a_disk?lang=en

Sincerely,

Ron


gcs8 <gcsviii at gmail.com> wrote:

>Oh, I forgot to read, I think you can do it with dd.
>
>
>On Sun, Dec 30, 2012 at 4:38 PM, gcs8 <gcsviii at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> dban
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Dec 30, 2012 at 4:36 PM, Ron Frazier (ALE) <
>> atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I want to fill a new hard drive with random numbers as part of a
>burn in
>>> process that I do.  I know I can boot a copy of Ultimate Boot CD and
>do
>>> this, but I want to do it from a running Ubuntu installation.  Once
>I've
>>> filled it with random numbers, I will do a few non destructive read
>write
>>> tests with badblocks.  Initially, there is no data on the drive, so
>I don't
>>> care about file systems, or partitions.  I want to write to every
>bit of
>>> user accessible space.  What commands would I use?
>>>
>>> Sincerely,
>>>
>>> Ron
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and
>K-9
>>> Mail.
>>> Please excuse my potential brevity.
>>>
>>> (To whom it may concern.  My email address has changed.  Replying to
>>> former
>>> messages prior to 03/31/12 with my personal address will go to the
>wrong
>>> address.  Please send all personal correspondence to the new
>address.)
>>>
>>> (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want
>to
>>> call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate
>energy
>>> mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new email messages very
>>> quickly.)
>>>
>>> Ron Frazier
>>> 770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
>>> linuxdude AT techstarship.com
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Charles Selfridge
>>
>> PBYC  IT director
>>
>> (404) 910-3409
>>


--

Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9 Mail.
Please excuse my potential brevity.

(To whom it may concern.  My email address has changed.  Replying to former
messages prior to 03/31/12 with my personal address will go to the wrong
address.  Please send all personal correspondence to the new address.)

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new email messages very quickly.)

Ron Frazier
770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
linuxdude AT techstarship.com