9.2.1.2. Using the dd command to dump data

The dd command can be used to put data on a disk, or get it off again, depending on the given input and output devices. An example:

gaby:~> dd if=images-without-dir.tar.gz of=/dev/fd0H1440
98+1 records in
98+1 records out

gaby~> dd if=/dev/fd0H1440 of=/var/tmp/images.tar.gz
2880+0 records in
2880+0 records out

gaby:~> ls /var/tmp/images*
/var/tmp/images.tar.gz

Note that the dumping is done on an unmounted device. Floppies created using this method will not be mountable in the file system, but it is of course the way to go for creating boot or rescue disks. For more information on the possibilities of dd, read the man pages.

This tool is part of the GNU coreutils package.

	Dumping disks
	The dd command can also be used to make a raw dump of an entire hard disk.