dd command

Definition:

• convert and copy a file
• copies input to output with a changeable I/O block size, while optionally performing conversions on the data.
  • ex: dd if=/dev/sda of=drive_image.iso and dd if=drive_image.iso of=/dev/sdb create image of a drive then clone a scond drive with it

Synopsis:

• dd [options] [operands]…

List of operands:

• if=file: read from file instead of stdin
• of=file: write to file instead of stdout
• …
• bs=bytes: makes dd read and write bytes per block, overriding any ‘ibs’ and ‘obs’ settings.
• …
• count=n: specify the number of blocks to be written to the output file
• status=level: verbosity
  • none: print nth but error
  • noxfer: do not display final transfer rate and volume statistics
  • progress: display transfer statistics periodically
• …

List of options