Diskpart hangs running 'clean all'

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  1. Posts : 14
    win7 home premium family pack
       #1

    Diskpart hangs running 'clean all'


    Following the tutorial on here I'm running diskpart command clean all on a 500gb HDD but I started it at 17.00 yesterday and it's now 09.15 today and the curser is still blinking.
    Surely it should have completed by now?
    What should I do?

    thanks
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 9,582
    Windows 8.1 Pro RTM x64
       #2

    Give it more time. The clean all command can take a considerable time to complete, for example on an 8GB USB stick it takes about 25 or so minutes on my system.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 2,362
    Win7 H.Prem. 32bit+SP1
       #3

    Was the disk you want to 'Clean All' selected before entering the command ?
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 14
    win7 home premium family pack
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Yes I selected the correct drive, i followed exactly the guide to diskpart these forums and there is no other program running.
    nearly 17hrs now
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 9,582
    Windows 8.1 Pro RTM x64
       #5

    Doing a quick calculation, based on my 8GB example above (~16GB/hr), you have ~14hrs to go.
      My Computer

  6.    #6

    Takes normally one hour per 320gb.

    Why are you running Clean All? It's only practical purpose is to make data unrecoverable by most recovery methods. For preparing a HD best, you only need to Delete all partitions during install and Create/Format new. New data doesn't care if it's overwriting 0's, 1's or both.

    Only with Install problems or a rare case where bad code is blocking startup or BIOS POST is it necessary to use Diskpart Clean Command to zero the boot sector.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 9,582
    Windows 8.1 Pro RTM x64
       #7

    The speed also depends on the interface. A disk, connected internally via the onboard SATA/PATA, is always going to perform faster than the same disk connected via a USB/Firewire interface. Given the amount of time that has elapsed, I would suspect the latter.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 10,200
    MS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit
       #8

    abandonhope said:
    Following the tutorial on here I'm running diskpart command clean all on a 500gb HDD but I started it at 17.00 yesterday and it's now 09.15 today and the curser is still blinking.
    Surely it should have completed by now?
    What should I do?

    thanks
    The amount of time that you have quoted is very unusual.

    Under the circumstances, I suggest:
    Use Ctrl+C to terminate the command.

    Try running again, but this time only use CLEAN without the ALL.

    This will overwrite the boot area with zeros, thus eliminating malware from the boot sector and also making the disk appear as one large disk with no partitions or volumes defined.

    If you are giving the computer or the disk to someone else, then a writing of zeroes to each and every byte is a good idea. A format does NOT write over the existing data and the data can be recovered.

    Is this a USB disk? If not, then how many disks are connected? For what purpose will you be using the disk after the disk is cleaned?
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 14
    win7 home premium family pack
    Thread Starter
       #9

    Thanks everyone, it is an internal SATA 2 HDD, I wanted to clean it to pass it on but given the amount of time IT'S STILL RUNNING (16.58)! I guess something is wrong.
    I shall use the Ctrl+ C command & try CLEAN & report back
      My Computer

  10.    #10

    To be sure it's worth passing on I'd run maker's HD Diagnostic extended CD scan, followed by Disk Check after creating one large partition to check. You can do the latter two with free Partition Wizard
      My Computer


 
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