Zero-Fill format before installation
I have a remote machine with KVM access that I'd like to format and reinstall FreeBSD 7.0. I've succeded in formatting /dev/ad6 but not the main drive, /dev/ad4. Is it possbile to zero-fill format during the installation instead of simply deleting and recreating partitions? I've tried booting into single user mode without any success: # umount -a umount: /cdrom: not a file system root directory umount: /var: not a file system root directory umount: /usr: not a file system root directory umount: /tmp: not a file system root directory # dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ad4 dd: /dev/ad4: Operation not permitted ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Zero-Fill format before installation
On Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 10:21:00AM +, Bullet 446 wrote: I have a remote machine with KVM access that I'd like to format and reinstall FreeBSD 7.0. I've succeded in formatting /dev/ad6 but not the main drive, /dev/ad4. Is it possbile to zero-fill format during the installation instead of simply deleting and recreating partitions? I've tried booting into single user mode without any success: # umount -a umount: /cdrom: not a file system root directory umount: /var: not a file system root directory umount: /usr: not a file system root directory umount: /tmp: not a file system root directory # dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ad4 dd: /dev/ad4: Operation not permitted You need to tell GEOM to allow you to overwrite the MBR at the start of the disk. sysctl kern.geom.debugflags=16 then do the dd again. I STRONGLY recommend you add bs=64k to that dd statement, or else it's going to take a million years. :-) -- | Jeremy Chadwickjdc at parodius.com | | Parodius Networking http://www.parodius.com/ | | UNIX Systems Administrator Mountain View, CA, USA | | Making life hard for others since 1977. PGP: 4BD6C0CB | ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Zero-Fill format before installation
On Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 12:22 PM, Jeremy Chadwick [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: sysctl kern.geom.debugflags=16 then do the dd again. Thanks Jeremy, that worked fine. I STRONGLY recommend you add bs=64k to that dd statement, or else it's going to take a million years. :-) That's a good tip, reduced formatting time by 85%! :) ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
