WIPEFS(8) System Administration WIPEFS(8)
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. This feature can be used to wipe content on
partitions devices as well as partition table on a disk device, for
example by wipefs -a /dev/sdc1 /dev/sdc2 /dev/sdc.
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(3) 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 -t option.
-b, --backup
Create a signature backup to the file
$HOME/wipefs-<devname>-<offset>.bak. For more details see the
EXAMPLE section.
-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.
-J, --json
Use JSON output format.
--lock[=mode]
Use exclusive BSD lock for device or file it operates. The optional
argument mode can be yes, no (or 1 and 0) or nonblock. If the mode
argument is omitted, it defaults to "yes". This option overwrites
environment variable $LOCK_BLOCK_DEVICE. The default is not to use
any lock at all, but it’s recommended to avoid collisions with
udevd or other tools.
-i, --noheadings
Do not print a header line.
-O, --output list
Specify which output columns to print. Use --help to get a list of
all supported columns.
-n, --no-act
Causes everything to be done except for the write(2) call.
-o, --offset offset
Specify the location (in bytes) of the signature which should be
erased from the device. The offset number may include a "0x"
prefix; then the number will be interpreted as a hex value. It is
possible to specify multiple -o options.
The offset argument may be followed by the multiplicative suffixes
KiB (=1024), MiB (=1024*1024), and so on for GiB, TiB, PiB, EiB,
ZiB and YiB (the "iB" is optional, e.g., "K" has the same meaning
as "KiB"), or the suffixes KB (=1000), MB (=1000*1000), and so on
for GB, TB, PB, EB, ZB and YB.
-p, --parsable
Print out in parsable instead of printable format. Encode all
potentially unsafe characters of a string to the corresponding hex
value prefixed by '\x'.
-q, --quiet
Suppress any messages after a successful signature wipe.
-t, --types list
Limit the set of printed or erased signatures. More than one type
may be specified in a comma-separated list. The list or individual
types can be prefixed with 'no' to specify the types on which no
action should be taken. For more details see mount(8).
-h, --help
Display help text and exit.
-V, --version
Print version and exit.
ENVIRONMENT
LIBBLKID_DEBUG=all
enables libblkid(3) debug output.
LOCK_BLOCK_DEVICE=<mode>
use exclusive BSD lock. The mode is "1" or "0". See --lock for more
details.
EXAMPLES
wipefs /dev/sda*
Prints information about sda and all partitions on sda.
wipefs --all --backup /dev/sdb
Erases all signatures from the device /dev/sdb and creates a
signature backup file ~/wipefs-sdb-<offset>.bak for each signature.
dd if=~/wipefs-sdb-0x00000438.bak of=/dev/sdb seek=$((0x00000438)) bs=1
conv=notrunc
Restores an ext2 signature from the backup file
~/wipefs-sdb-0x00000438.bak.
AUTHORS
Karel Zak <kzak@redhat.com>
SEE ALSO
blkid(8), findfs(8)
REPORTING BUGS
For bug reports, use the issue tracker at
https://github.com/util-linux/util-linux/issues.
AVAILABILITY
The wipefs command is part of the util-linux package which can be
downloaded from Linux Kernel Archive
<https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/>.
util-linux 2.38.1 2022-05-11 WIPEFS(8)
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