Anyone checked if that is actually faster than just using grep on the blockdevice? I've used grep the few times I've had a need for it, and just copied the source off the terminal when its found something. (Tell grep to give you some lines before and after a match, and tell it to treat the blockdevice as plain-text).. You usually get some trash before/after the matches, those could be terminal control characers, but a those can be trimmed with, drumroll: tr.