On 8/30/07, Matthew Flaschen <matthew.flaschen@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Jacques B. wrote: > > > Your second part is incorrect. It does not matter if there is a file > > system or not (ANY file system) when copying from device/partition to > > device/partition (i.e. if=/dev/???? and of=/dev/????). dd OVERWRITES > > EVERYTHING. > > No. It will only overwrite the number of bytes that are copied. Bytes > after that will be ignored. Thus, it's better to zero the partition first. > > Matt Flaschen > Ok, I was too general in order to keep it as simple as possible. Correct that if you are copying 10 gigs onto 30 gigs that it will only overwrite 10 gigs, not the entire 30 gigs. The remainder will be unused space. You do not have to zero it first, but I agree it is certainly a good practice. I didn't want to throw a dd if=/dev/zero into the mix. Jacques B.
