Here’s a couple tips and tricks while using dd on Linux

You can view the status of an on-going dd command (I always forget to run with progress or the version you’re using doesn’t have it)

You will need another terminal window. Not a problem for me as I always use tmux, some people say screen it better.⌗

This same thing can also be one in a single command as follows

kill -USR1 $(pgrep ^dd$)

This is the “right” way (assuming you have dd version above 8.24, this can be checked by dd --version)

This is a normal dd command -> dd if=/path/to/input of=/path/to/output

All you have to do is append status progress -> dd if=/path/to/input of=/path/to/output status=progress

You can also use pv (you might have to install it apt install -y pv)

This can be done -> dd if=/path/to/input | pv | dd of=/path/to/output

You can also use compression

Using XZ (this will use all cores, you can adjust -T however you’d like, it defaults to 1) -> dd if=/path/to/input | xz -T0 > /path/to/output.xz

Using GZIP -> dd if=/path/to/input | gzip > /path/to/output.gz

Here is how to write back to the device

Using xzcat (for xz) -> xzcat -T0 | dd of=/path/to/output

Using zcat (for gzip) -> zcat | dd of=/path/to/output

As with everything I write if you break something it’s not on me, it’s just part of learning and welcome to the ongoing game of learning.⌗