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As you know, any disk used in Solaris has to have a label (if there isn't any, you can just use "format").

My problem is I want to unlabel a disk for testing purposes. Is there any command that does this?

Thanks!

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3 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

Answering myself here:

dd if=/dev/zero of=$HARDDRIVE count=16

This overwrites the label, and a "format label" is required in order for the drive to be usable again.

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How do you know which $HARDDRIVE value to use ? I've tried dd if=/dev/zero of=/pci@0/pci@0/pci@2/scsi@0/sd@0,0 count=16, witouth success... – Kami Sep 3 '10 at 8:41
@Kami I currently have no Solaris box available, but if I'm not mistaken, I used the output of format to see which device I needed – abyx Sep 24 '10 at 9:20
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up vote 0 down vote

I always used a linux life CD to remove all partitions and repartition the disk. That will remove all labels. That, ofcourse is only an option if the disk content is disposable... ;-)

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The disk contents are garbage. Is there an appropriate command on Solaris? – abyx Aug 11 '09 at 8:55
Not that I know. Thats why I used knoppix or ubuntu... – EricSchaefer Aug 11 '09 at 8:56
... to "erase" the labels... – EricSchaefer Aug 11 '09 at 8:56
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Looks like you found your solution, but dd is a sledgehammer hitting a nail. Take a look at the man page for fmthard, I think it's a little more elegant, and supported.

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Doesn't look like it's capable of deleting a label, only placing one. – abyx Aug 12 '09 at 11:07
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