Question : In which particular situation is dd if= of= used when datafile/password/control files are all binary files?

   
    Hello Experts !

The datafile at DR centre has to be replaced with datafile at production.
The datafile is replaced using dd command at DR.
normally the datafiles are placed thru scp and we move thru mv/cp command.
In which particular situation is dd if= of= used when datafile/password/control files are all binary files?
 

Answer : In which particular situation is dd if= of= used when datafile/password/control files are all binary files?

dd is meant to copy files from a device that needs some fysical blocking (tape/disks) and convert it (could be doing nothing) to save somewhere else.

You can convert block using ebcdic-> ascii or vv.
Copy 10 byte blocks and write them out as 20 byte blocks padded with some character. etc.

'dd if=xxx of=yyy ...' as a mean to copy things doesn't seem to add value. cp doesn't tranform data it just copies a bunch of bytes nothing more or less,  dd can do the same and convert data on the mode as well.

see manpage (man dd ) or here: http://linux.die.net/man/1/dd