Does running dd if=/dev/zero often can damage the drive?
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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
asked Mar 8 at 4:44
Ridgwell J.Ridgwell J.
505
add a comment |
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
asked Mar 8 at 4:44
Ridgwell J.Ridgwell J.
505
add a comment |
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
asked Mar 8 at 4:44
Ridgwell J.Ridgwell J.
505
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
hard-drive format dd
asked Mar 8 at 4:44
Ridgwell J.Ridgwell J.
505
asked Mar 8 at 4:44
Ridgwell J.Ridgwell J.
505
edited Mar 8 at 6:14
Ridgwell J.
asked Mar 8 at 4:44
Ridgwell J.Ridgwell J.
505
asked Mar 8 at 4:44
Ridgwell J.Ridgwell J.
505
asked Mar 8 at 4:44
Ridgwell J.Ridgwell J.
505
505
add a comment |
add a comment |
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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.
answered Mar 8 at 5:04
Lie RyanLie Ryan
4931516
FYI I used hdd—not ssd, so it is not affecting much right? Thanks for your answer :)
– Ridgwell J.
Mar 8 at 6:16
add a comment |
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1 Answer
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1 Answer
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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.
answered Mar 8 at 5:04
Lie RyanLie Ryan
4931516
FYI I used hdd—not ssd, so it is not affecting much right? Thanks for your answer :)
– Ridgwell J.
Mar 8 at 6:16
add a comment |
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.
answered Mar 8 at 5:04
Lie RyanLie Ryan
4931516
FYI I used hdd—not ssd, so it is not affecting much right? Thanks for your answer :)
– Ridgwell J.
Mar 8 at 6:16
add a comment |
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.
answered Mar 8 at 5:04
Lie RyanLie Ryan
4931516
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.
answered Mar 8 at 5:04
Lie RyanLie Ryan
4931516
answered Mar 8 at 5:04
Lie RyanLie Ryan
4931516
answered Mar 8 at 5:04
Lie RyanLie Ryan
4931516
answered Mar 8 at 5:04
Lie RyanLie Ryan
4931516
4931516
FYI I used hdd—not ssd, so it is not affecting much right? Thanks for your answer :)
– Ridgwell J.
Mar 8 at 6:16
add a comment |
FYI I used hdd—not ssd, so it is not affecting much right? Thanks for your answer :)
– Ridgwell J.
Mar 8 at 6:16
FYI I used hdd—not ssd, so it is not affecting much right? Thanks for your answer :)
– Ridgwell J.
Mar 8 at 6:16
FYI I used hdd—not ssd, so it is not affecting much right? Thanks for your answer :)
– Ridgwell J.
Mar 8 at 6:16
add a comment |
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