zerofill(1)

📦
version 7.0.1 · 2 versions
, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, opensuse-leap 16.0, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

zerofill 💾✨

okay bestie, welcome to zerofill(1) from the GNU Telephony girlies — she clears your unused disk space and blanks out whole devices, and she is so good at it. 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

zerofill — clear unused disk space and blank devices. that's the whole job, she's an icon, she's efficient. 💅

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

zerofill [options] [devices] ...

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so. this command is a relative of nullfile — like, same family, same vibe. 🫶

just like nullfile, you can use it to write all unused disk space with '0', which makes file systems that are stored on virtual machines easier to pack. lowkey genius, honestly. it's giving "compressed but make it effortless".

and ALSO — zerofill can fill unused disk space with random data before zeroing. which is useful to remove forensic trace of deleted files. 🔥 yes bestie, we're scrubbing the receipts.

finally, zerofile can be told to operate on and zero (erase) complete disk devices. like, the whole device. not a drill. 🚨

⚠️ heads up: that last one is a real erase of a complete disk device. it does exactly what it says. no cap.

💖 OPTIONS 💖

  • --random=count — number of passes to use writing random data before wiping data. so like, how many rounds of random chaos before the big zero finale. ✨
  • --help — outputs help screen for the user. your girl is always ready to explain herself. 🎀

👑 AUTHOR 👑

zerofill was written by David Sugar <dyfet@gnutelephony.org>. legend behavior. 💜

😭 REPORTING BUGS 😭

report bugs to bug-commoncpp@gnu.org or bugs@gnutelephony.org. don't be shy, they wanna know. 📬

Copyright © 2010-2014 David Sugar, Tycho Softworks.

This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

not even for MERCHANTABILITY. not even for FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. she said what she said. 🙈

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

no other pages listed in this one, bestie — it's a standalone queen. 🧚

that's the whole page!! this one shipped as part of GNU uCommon back in January 2010, so it's been slaying for a minute. 🍓 bye bestie, go zero something responsibly!! 💖✨🌸

📦 where this page comes from