This simple Bash script functions as a wrapper around dd, for the purpose of wiping a disk or partition while providing progress feedback to the user.

disk_wipe.sh

#!/bin/bash
# disk_wipe.sh
# Author: Kromey (http://kromey.us/)
# This simple Bash script leverages the dd utility to provide user feedback
# as progress is made, designed for the purpose of wiping hard drives or
# partitions. This script reads from /dev/zero to most efficiently zero-out
# the target device or partition.
 
#
# BEGIN CONFIG
#
 
#Commands
DD=`which dd`
RM=`which rm`
KILL=`which kill`
 
#Source file for overwrite
SOURCE=/dev/zero
 
#Destination device for suppressed output
NULL=/dev/null
 
#Temporary file for the script
TMP=/tmp/disk_wipe
 
#
# END CONFIG
# DO NOT EDIT BELOW THIS LINE!
#
 
#Script's first parameter is the disk to wipe
DISK=$1
 
#This function monitors the dd process and provides near-real-time feedback
function monitor() {
	#Sending the USR1 signal to dd causes it to output progress
	while $KILL -USR1 $1 > $NULL 2>&1
	do
		#Parse out the current progress
		PROGRESS=`awk '/copied/ {print $1, "bytes", $3, $4}' $TMP`
		#Empty our temp file
		echo $NULL > $TMP
		#Output progress, overwriting the previous progress line
		printf "\r$PROGRESS"
		#Pause for a quick breath
		sleep 0.25
	done
}
 
#Clean up after ourselves
function clean_up() {
	#Give us a new line
	echo
	#Kill the dd command, if it isn't already stopped
	$KILL $PID_DD > $NULL 2>&1
	#Remove our temp file
	$RM $TMP
	#Aaaaand we're done
	exit
}
 
#Catch the most common "stop" signals, and clean up
trap clean_up SIGHUP SIGINT SIGTERM
 
#Start the disk wipe
$DD if=$SOURCE of=$DISK bs=16M > $TMP 2>&1 & PID_DD=$!
 
echo Started dd with PID $PID_DD
 
#Keep an eye on our progress
monitor $PID_DD
 
#Clean up after ourselves
clean_up