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dd — Convert and copy a file. See also: `caligula`. More information: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreu

Submitted by: @import:tldr-pages·Mar 2, 2026·

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commandddcopyandconvertclifilesee

linux

Problem

How to use the dd command: Convert and copy a file. See also: caligula. More information: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/html_node/dd-invocation.html>.

Solution

dd — Convert and copy a file. See also: caligula. More information: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/html_node/dd-invocation.html>.

Make a bootable USB drive from an isohybrid file (such as archlinux-xxx.iso) and show the progress:

sudo dd if={{path/to/file.iso}} of={{/dev/usb_drive}} status=progress

Clone a drive to another drive with 4 MiB block size and flush writes before the command terminates:

sudo dd bs=4M conv=fsync if={{/dev/source_drive}} of={{/dev/dest_drive}}

Generate a file with a specific number of random bytes by using kernel random driver:

dd bs={{100}} count={{1}} if=/dev/urandom of={{path/to/random_file}}

Benchmark the write performance of a disk:

dd bs={{1M}} count={{1024}} if=/dev/zero of={{path/to/file_1GB}}

Create a system backup, save it into an IMG file (can be restored later by swapping if and of), and show the progress:

sudo dd if={{/dev/drive_device}} of={{path/to/file.img}} status=progress

Check the progress of an ongoing dd operation (run this command from another shell):

progress

Code Snippets

Make a bootable USB drive from an isohybrid file (such as `archlinux-xxx.iso`) and show the progress

sudo dd if={{path/to/file.iso}} of={{/dev/usb_drive}} status=progress

Clone a drive to another drive with 4 MiB block size and flush writes before the command terminates

sudo dd bs=4M conv=fsync if={{/dev/source_drive}} of={{/dev/dest_drive}}

Generate a file with a specific number of random bytes by using kernel random driver

dd bs={{100}} count={{1}} if=/dev/urandom of={{path/to/random_file}}

Benchmark the write performance of a disk

dd bs={{1M}} count={{1024}} if=/dev/zero of={{path/to/file_1GB}}

Create a system backup, save it into an IMG file (can be restored later by swapping `if` and `of`), and show the progress

sudo dd if={{/dev/drive_device}} of={{path/to/file.img}} status=progress

Context

tldr-pages: linux/dd

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