Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 16:14:41 +1300 From: Jonathan Chen <jonc@chen.org.nz> To: fbsd_user <fbsd_user@a1poweruser.com> Cc: "freebsd-questions@FreeBSD. ORG" <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: zero out unused HD space Message-ID: <20040116031441.GB93061@grimoire.chen.org.nz> In-Reply-To: <MIEPLLIBMLEEABPDBIEGCEJOFEAA.fbsd_user@a1poweruser.com> References: <MIEPLLIBMLEEABPDBIEGCEJOFEAA.fbsd_user@a1poweruser.com>
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On Thu, Jan 15, 2004 at 08:25:27PM -0500, fbsd_user wrote:
> I am trying to zero out all the unused disk space in the FBSD system
> Hard Drive.
> Using this command
> dd if=/dev/zero of=filler bs=1m
>
> but get error message saying file system full and have file named
> filler.
>
> I don't think this commands is doing what I want.
Why not? All this means that what used to be unused disk space has now
been taken by the file "filler", which happens to be full of zeros.
If you now "rm filler", this frees up the disk space again; the now free
disk-space now contains mostly zeros (it won't stay that way for long
on an active system).
--
Jonathan Chen <jonc@chen.org.nz>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Opportunity does not knock,
it presents itself when you beat down the door" - W.E. Channing
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