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From: Jerry McAllister <jerrymc@clunix.cl.msu.edu>
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To: roberthuff@rcn.com (Robert Huff)
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 13:24:20 -0500 (EST)
In-Reply-To: <16426.25589.873525.703043@jerusalem.litteratus.org> from "Robert
	Huff" at Feb 11, 2004 12:18:45 PM
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cc: questions@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: wiping a partition
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> 
> 
> 	I've gotten into a wierd situation where the best course seems
> to be wipe a (BSD) partition - without chnaging the size or location
> - and then restoring from backup.
> 	Based on the Handbook (sec. 12.3.2) the correct would seem to
> be:
> 
> 	make backup
> 	cd /
> 	dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/da1 bs=1k count=1
> 	newfs -O 2 -U /dev/da1e
> 	restore from backup
> 
> 	Have I overlooked anything?

That will wipe the whole da1 disk , not just a partition on it.

I don't know what you really need, but something
like 
  cd /
  umount /dev/da1s1e
  newfs /dev/da1s1e 
would make the current stuff on the e partition of slice 1 on disk da1 
unreadable short of using one of those heroic super recovery services.

If you want the old stuff back, sandwich that with the 
backup and restore.

////jerry

> 
> 
> 					Robert Huff
>