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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Is this speed normal for formatting a HDD? (mint 21.2) (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by witchergeraltofrivia to c/[email protected]

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Started with 50 MBps, went down to 20 MBps shortly after and is declining slowly since. Running for 7+ hours.
HDD is 5 years old, rare use but very well kept.

Edit: external 1.5 TB HDD connected over USB 3. Overwriting with zeroes while formatting using gnome-disks.

Update:

Stopped gnome-disks ~78% and continued writing zeros using dd for the remaining sectors.
command used: #sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda1 bs=1M seek=1001250 status=progress (don't copy without understanding), used seek here to skip already zeroed sectors.
write speed went up from ~14 MB/s to ~100 MB/s.

slow speed could be caused by multiple passes of overwrites by gnome-disks (not sure if it does that), or by "initializing the filesystem at the same time as zeroing" as mentioned by @ares35.

gradual speed decrement was observed in both methods, as mentioned by @Synthead.

Thanks to everyone for being so helpful.

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[–] witchergeraltofrivia 4 points 1 year ago

Stopped gnome-disks format at 78% (~6 hours remaining).
Used #sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda1 bs=1M seek=1001250 status=progress, write speed is ~100 MB/s.
Thanks a ton!