On: Useless Use of "dd" (2015)

[Nux]

Also fallocate (Linux only though).

[natmaka → Nux]

dd can do it on an existing file or stream, transforming sequences of 0 it contains into "holes".

[inopinatus → natmaka]

caveat operator: to ensure the conv=sparse operand achieves the desired outcome, be sure to use an output blocksize equal to st_blksize of the output filesystem.

[jhugo → inopinatus]

or just use `cp --sparse=always` if it's from one file to another

[inopinatus → jhugo]

That is not so portable, so I recommend sticking with dd.

[jhugo → inopinatus]

Yup, `dd` helps in a lot of situations when you need portability, not just this one.

Commands like `cp --sparse=always` aren't worth such a blanket disrecommendation though; if you are working directly at a console as opposed to scripting you typically don't need portability.

[inopinatus → jhugo]

Again, most of the consoles I work at don’t use GNU coretools.

[jhugo → inopinatus]

Then you obviously can't use this, but many people reading my suggestion can.