Windows 10: Erase Disk using Diskpart Clean Command in Windows 10

How to: Erase Disk using Diskpart Clean Command in Windows 10

How to Erase a Disk using Diskpart Clean Command in Windows 10


Information You can use the clean or clean all Diskpart command options to erase (wipe) a disk leaving it unallocated and not initialized.

The clean command removes any and all partition or volume formatting from the disk with focus. On master boot record (MBR) disks, only the MBR partitioning information and hidden sector information are overwritten. On GUID partition table (GPT) disks, the GPT partitioning information, including the Protective MBR, is overwritten; there is no hidden sector information. The clean command will only mark the data on the disk as deleted, and will not zero (secure erase) the disk like the clean all command below.

The clean all command performs the same action as the clean command above, but includes to specify that each and every sector on the disk is zeroed (secure erase), which completely deletes all data contained on the disk. This will make the data on the disk unrecoverable. It will take about an hour per 320 GB to finish running the "clean all" command on a disk.

This tutorial will show you how to use the clean or clean all Diskpart commands to erase a disk in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.

You must be signed in as an administrator to "clean" or "clean all" a disk.



Warning Be sure you verify the correct disk number of the disk you want to erase from Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) before doing the steps below.

You do not want to erase the wrong disk, and lose data.


EXAMPLE: Disk that is not initialized and unallocated after running "clean" or "clean all" command






Here's How:

1. Open either an command prompt at boot for what you want to use.


Note You will not be able to run the clean or clean all command on the disk that Windows is installed on unless you do so in a command prompt at boot.


2. Type the command below, and press Enter. (see screenshots below step 5)
diskpart
3. Type the command below, and press Enter.
list disk
4. Type the command below, and press Enter.
select disk #



Note Substitute # in the command above with the actual disk number (ex: "3") of the disk you want to clean.

For example: select disk 3


5. Type the command below you want to use, and press Enter.


Note The clean command will finish quickly since it only marks the data on the disk as deleted.

The clean all command will take about an hour per 320 GB to finish running since it performs a secure erase.


clean

OR

clean all







6. You can now GPT[/b], and create a New Simple Volume on the disk. (see screenshots below)








That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Format a Disk or Drive in Windows 10
• How to Delete Volume or Partition in Windows 10
• How to Extend Volume or Partition in Windows 10
• How to Shrink a Volume or Partition in Windows 10
• How to Use Cipher Command to Overwrite Deleted Data in Windows

:)

 

How to format a MAC HDD to WIN NTFS using WIN 10

Hi there,

In come cases Disk Management won't allow you to delete a partition formatted in a file system it doesn't recognize. In this case you can use the command line tool Diskpart. Note that you should be extremely careful which disk you choose to clean in diskpart
as this will erase all the data on it. You can find a detailed guide
here . Hope that helps.

 

Windows 10 installation doesn't recognize my drive

Have you tried to delete the partitions by selecting Delete? If you are trying to perform a clean install of Windows to your SSD, let's go ahead and erase it:

• On the disk selection screen (make sure that the window for disk selection is active), press [Shift]+[F10] to open a command prompt window.
• Type the following commands and press [Enter] after each line:
  
  - diskpart
  
  - select disk 0
  
  - clean
• Close the command window.
• Click the Refresh button and proceed with the installation.

 

Correct. That will wipe the OS drive completely.

 

Might just be worth adding a sentence how to get to diskpart from an installation drive or similar.

Actually a mini iso that just booted to the command prompt would be a really handy tool but never seen one.

 

I have a link in step 1 for how to open a command prompt at boot to help.

 

Hello,

I wan to re-install Win10 on a SSD, but want to do a clean-all command from diskpart first (virus issues). However, upon trying to do a secure erase first in Command Prompt (admin) - diskpart - selected disk - clean all, I got an error: "Clean all is not allowed on the disk containing the current boot, system, pagefile, crashdump, or hibernation volume."

There's only Disk 0 as an option, I assume the error is because I can't do a clean wipe of the disk/OS I'm currently using?

I have Win10 USB ready. Can I do a diskpart at start-up from the installation USB? Or is there another method to completely wipe the SSD before re-installing? Thank you *Smile

 

Hello scop8, *Smile

You should be able to run the "clean all" command from a command prompt at boot when opened after booting from Windows 10 installation media.

 

I'll give it a shot, thanks Brink *Smile

 

Please let us know how it went. *Smile