[piyh]

the risk of catastrophic data loss from misuse of `dd` makes my hackles rise just looking at this.

I will never forget when I mixed up `if` and `of` during a routine backup.

`cat /dev/sda > /mnt/myDisk2` is so much safer, explicit, and in unix norms. It's also faster because you don't have to tune block size parameters.

Plus you can also do `pv /dev/sda > /mnt/myDisk2` to get transfer speed details.

Friends don't let friends use `dd` where `cat` can do the same job.

[jmb99]

I stopped getting scared of `if` and `of` about a decade ago when I started explicitly saying (in my head) "input file" and "output file" rather than "if" and "of." You still can mess up the order, but imo no more easily than you can swap `cat in > out` for `cat out > in`.

> Friends don't let friends use `dd` where `cat` can do the same job.

Technically yes... but I like being able to explicitly set block sizes and force sync writes.

[ogurechny]

I think you both are arguing about how to fight a bear with your bare hands. To win in that, you simply need to not fight with a bear.

Let's say someone made an expansion board with a cool feature: there are 5 documented I/O addresses, but accessing any other address fries the stored firmware. What would you do? No, not leaving a lot of comments in code in CAPS LOCK. No, not printing the correct hexadecimal values in red to put the message on the wall. You make a driver that only allows access to the correct addresses, and configure the rest of the system to make sure that it can only work through that driver.

Let's say there's a loading bay at the chemical plant with multiple flanges. If strong acid from the tanker is pumped into the main acid tank, everything is fine. If it is pumped into any other tank, the whole plant may explode and burn. What should be done? No, not promising that drivers will be fired, then shot by the firing squad if they make a mistake. Each connection is independently locked, and the driver only gets a single matching key.

You have wonderful programmable devices that allow you to solve non-standard problems with non-standard tools. What should be done is making a wrapper for dd that just does not allow you to do anything you don't want to happen. Even the most basic script with checks and confirmation is enough.