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

[Jason Boyles]

pipe viewer will show progress and throughput:

http://www.ivarch.com/programs/pv.shtml


On Sun, Dec 30, 2012 at 5:14 PM, Ron Frazier (ALE) <
atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com> wrote:

> 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
>
>
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>



-- 
jgb <jason at duncancreek.net>
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