Windows 10: reformat SSD from Win 7 to Win 10

I have a 1TB Samsung 840 EVO that I installed in my old Win 7 machine last year. I am moving it into my new XPS 8700 with Win 10. I am trying to do a Secure Erase so that I can clone the Win 10 drive over to the SSD. The Samsung Magician software will not do Secure Erase in Windows 10, it requires creating a USB or CD boot drive to perform Secure Erase. (The old Win 7 HDD no longer works, so I can't run Magician from it.)


I have created the bootable CD, but now need to change the boot drive to the CD/DVD so that SE can run. I tried Advanced startup and chose the CD/DVD, but it does not boot from the CD, it just defaults to the OS drive.


Does anyone know how to change the boot drive in UEFI? I know how to do it in BIOS, but that's no longer an option.

:)

 

Installed Window 10 Pro on a ASUS U56E that had Windows 10 Home

I tried to do a clean install of Win 10 Home w/o reformatting the SSD but I kept getting to an install page for Win 10 Pro.

That is why I thought I might have to reformat the SSD.

So do I need to reformat the SSD first or is there some other way to install Win 10 Home?

Thanks!

 

Win 7 Installation with VM Ware

I have VM ware installed on my Win 10 PC and within VM Ware I installed Win 7 using an unused license. I am about to reformat my entire SSD and reinstall Win 10 and everything else that I have on PC. Do I have to uninstall Win 7 in the VM ware setup
or do anything special so that I can reinstall Win 7 in the virtual machine?

 

Unless I am mistaken, you will have 2 entries for your CD drive one will be the name of the CD drive and the other will be UEFI name of your CD drive. Try using the UEFI entry.

 

Thanks essenbe. At the Advanced Restart screen, I see the duplicate drives as you mentioned, but both have the same name. I have tried both of them, and it still does not use the CD to boot, it uses the OS drive.

 

Maybe something went wrong in the creation of the CD. It sounds like it may not be bootable. Just a guess, you will know for sure if you change your boot order in BIOS to CD as 1st boot device and hard drive second. A lot of people run their systems that way. It helps if you ever can't boot and need to boot from a recovery CD. You don't have to go through all of this. But, either way, it's worth a try.

You know, you really don't have to do a secure erase. Just format the drive and it will wipe it clean. I rarely do a secure erase unless I am having a problem with the SSD. You can do it during installation with the installation media if you want. I can tell you how if you want to.

 

Thank you. Yes, if we can reformat without having to do a Secure Erase, that would work for me. Thanks for any tips you can share!

 

First let me ask if you want the 350 MB System Reserved? We can install with it or without it, whichever you want. It does hold some recovery options, but if you do regular backups, which you should do in either case, you can reinstall to your last backup and you still have the recovery disk. Just let me know which way you would like to do it.

 

Yes, let's keep some space for system reserve.

 

OK, the best way to do it is, make sure the only hard drive connected is the one you are going to install to, then boot from the installation media. At the firs screen where is says select your language, do not select it. Hold down the Shift key and press F10, you will get a command prompt window. Type diskpart and press enter. wait until it replies diskpart. Type list Disk and press enter. It will show you a list of every disk attached. You should only have the 1 hard drive and it should be listed as disk 0 (number 0 not letter) Type select disk 0 and press enter, it will reply, disk 0 is the selected disk. Type clean and press enter, it will reply that it cleaned the disk. type create partition primary and press enter. it will reply that it created the selected partition. Type select partition 1 and press enter, it will reply partition 1 is the selected partition. type format fs=ntfs quick and press enter. It will take a few seconds, but will reply that it finished. Type clean and press enter, it will reply that it successfully cleaned the disk. Type exit and press enter, then type exit and press enter again. You will be back at the select your language again. Be aware, this will wipe out any data on the disk. The drive will be unallocated at that time. Just select the drive to install to. Windows will create the necessary partitions and install. If you have any questions please let me know.

 

BTW, there is an easier way to do that, but that's the way I do it. I like to do it myself so I am sure it is right.
The easy way is when you get to the where do you want to install Windows, select advanced options and delete all partitions and then install to an unallocated disk. Windows will do everything else.

 

Sorry to butt in guys.
Steve is correct up to the "clean" part then just continue to install Windows. Select Custom, then hi-lite the unallocated partition then click Next. It is better to let Windows manage the creation of needed partitions.
@Steve (essenble),
If you fresh install of Windows 10. The partitions layout was changed. It is not 350MB reserved partition.
For UEFI installation, Windows will create as follows:
4 partitions: 450MB reserved, 100MB EFI System, 16MB MSR then your OS C: drive

For MBR installation:
2 partitions: 500MB Reserved and OS C: Drive

 

What you suggest would leave him with a windows.old folder. I formatted it, then ran the clean to make it unallocated which allows the installer to create whatever partitions are required.

 

@topgundcp, do you think I am wrong?

 

No, you are not wrong but unnecessary to reformat. Windows Installation will do it automatically. And by the way, if you fresh install, there will be no Windows.old.