diff --git a/mtdutils/erase_image.c b/mtdutils/erase_image.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..37623b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mtdutils/erase_image.c
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2008 The Android Open Source Project
+ * Portions Copyright (C) 2010 Magnus Eriksson <packetlss@gmail.com>
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+#include <errno.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+
+#include <fcntl.h>
+#include <mtd/mtd-user.h>
+
+#include "cutils/log.h"
+#include "mtdutils.h"
+
+#ifdef LOG_TAG
+#undef LOG_TAG
+#endif
+
+#define LOG_TAG "erase_image"
+
+static int die(const char *msg, ...) {
+    int err = errno;
+    va_list args;
+    va_start(args, msg);
+    char buf[1024];
+    vsnprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), msg, args);
+    va_end(args);
+
+    if (err != 0) {
+        strlcat(buf, ": ", sizeof(buf));
+        strlcat(buf, strerror(err), sizeof(buf));
+    }
+
+    fprintf(stderr, "%s\n", buf);
+    LOGE("%s\n", buf);
+    return 3;
+}
+
+
+int erase_image(char* partition_name) {
+    MtdWriteContext *out;
+    size_t erased;
+    size_t total_size;
+    size_t erase_size;
+
+    if (mtd_scan_partitions() <= 0) die("error scanning partitions");
+    const MtdPartition *partition = mtd_find_partition_by_name(partition_name);
+    if (partition == NULL) return die("can't find %s partition", partition_name);
+
+    out = mtd_write_partition(partition);
+    if (out == NULL) return die("could not estabilish write context for %s", partition_name);
+
+    // do the actual erase, -1 = full partition erase
+    erased = mtd_erase_blocks(out, -1);
+
+    // erased = bytes erased, if zero, something borked
+    if (!erased) return die("error erasing %s", partition_name);
+
+    return 0;
+}
+
+
+/* Erase a mtd partition */
+
+int main(int argc, char **argv) {
+    if (argc != 2) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "usage: %s <partition>\n", argv[0]);
+        return 2;
+    }
+    
+    return erase_image(argv[1]);
+}