Section (8) wipefs
Name
wipefs — wipe a signature from a device
Synopsis
wipefs [options]
device...
wipefs [−−backup] −o offset device...
wipefs [−−backup] −a device...
DESCRIPTION
wipefs can
erase filesystem, raid or partition-table signatures (magic
strings) from the specified device to make the signatures
invisible for libblkid. wipefs does not erase the
filesystem itself nor any other data from the device.
When used without any options, wipefs lists all visible
filesystems and the offsets of their basic signatures. The
default output is subject to change. So whenever possible,
you should avoid using default outputs in your scripts.
Always explicitly define expected columns by using
−−output columns-list in environments
where a stable output is required.
wipefs calls the BLKRRPART ioctl when it has erased a partition-table signature to inform the kernel about the change. The ioctl is called as the last step and when all specified signatures from all specified devices are already erased.
Note that some filesystems and some partition tables store more magic strings on the device (e.g. FAT, ZFS, GPT). The wipefs command (since v2.31) lists all the offset where a magic strings have been detected.
When option −a is used, all magic
strings that are visible for libblkid are erased. In this
case the wipefs
scans the device again after each modification (erase) until
no magic string is found.
Note that by default wipefs does not erase
nested partition tables on non-whole disk devices. For this
the option −−force is
required.
OPTIONS
−a, −−all-
Erase all available signatures. The set of erased signatures can be restricted with the
−toption. −b, −−backup-
Create a signature backup to the file $HOME/wipefs-<devname>-<offset>.bak. For more details see the
EXAMPLESsection. −f, −−force-
Force erasure, even if the filesystem is mounted. This is required in order to erase a partition-table signature on a block device.
−h, −−help-
Display help text and exit.
−J, −−json-
Use JSON output format.
−n, −−noheadings-
Do not print a header line.
−O, −−outputlist-
Specify which output columns to print. Use −−help to get a list of all supported columns.
−n, −−no−act-
Causes everything to be done except for the write() call.
−o, −−offsetoffset-
Specify the location (in bytes) of the signature which should be erased from the device. The
offsetnumber may include a 0x prefix; then the number will be interpreted as a hex value. It is possible to specify multiple−ooptions.The
offsetargument may be followed by the multiplicative suffixes KiB (=1024), MiB (=1024*1024), and so on for GiB, TiB, PiB, EiB, ZiB and YiB (the iB is optional, e.g. K has the same meaning as KiB), or the suffixes KB (=1000), MB (=1000*1000), and so on for GB, TB, PB, EB, ZB and YB. −p, −−parsable-
Print out in parsable instead of printable format. Encode all potentially unsafe characters of a string to the corresponding hex value prefixed by _zsingle_quotesz_x_zsingle_quotesz_.
−q, −−quiet-
Suppress any messages after a successful signature wipe.
−t, −−typeslist-
Limit the set of printed or erased signatures. More than one type may be specified in a comma-separated list. The list or individual types can be prefixed with _zsingle_quotesz_no_zsingle_quotesz_ to specify the types on which no action should be taken. For more details see mount(8).
−V, −−version-
Display version information and exit.
EXAMPLES
- wipefs /dev/sda*
-
Prints information about sda and all partitions on sda.
- wipefs --all --backup /dev/sdb
-
Erases all signatures from the device /dev/sdb and creates a signature backup file ~/wipefs-sdb-<offset>.bak for each signature.
- dd if=~/wipefs-sdb-0x00000438.bak of=/dev/sdb seek=$((0x00000438)) bs=1 conv=notrunc
-
Restores an ext2 signature from the backup file ~/wipefs-sdb-0x00000438.bak.