Disk - Clean and Clean All with Diskpart Command

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    Disk - Clean and Clean All with Diskpart Command

    Disk - Clean and Clean All with Diskpart Command

    How to "Clean" or "Clean All" a Disk with the Diskpart Command
    Published by
    Designer Media Ltd


    How to "Clean" or "Clean All" a Disk with the Diskpart Command


       Information
    This will show you how to use the clean or clean all command on a selected disk to delete all of it's MBR or GPT partitions, volumes, and any hidden sector information on MBR disks is overwritten.

    The data on the HDD is not written over using the clean command like it does with the clean all command below. With the clean command, the data on the HDD is only marked as being deleted instead and is only written over when new data is written/saved to the same location on the HDD next.

    OR

    You could use the clean all command (secure erase) to do the above and also have each and every disk sector on the HDD written over and zeroed out completely to securely delete all data on the disk to help prevent the data from being able to be recovered. "Clean All" takes about an hour per 320 GB to finish running.

       Note

    • You cannot use the clean or clean all diskpart commands on a boot disk (ex: disk Windows is installed on) unless you do it from a command prompt at boot.

    • Be sure to backup anything that you do not want to lose on the disk that you use clean or clean all on first. It will be to late afterwards. All data will be permanently lost on the disk.
       Warning
    You do not want to use clean all on a SSD disk often. Having every sector written over to 0 on a SSD can reduce it's life span faster.





    Here's How:

    1. In Windows 7, open an elevated command prompt, or a command prompt at boot.

    OR

    2. In Windows 8 and 8.1, open an elevated command prompt, or a command prompt at boot.

       Note
    Be sure that you have the correct Disk #. You would not want to wipe clean the wrong disk.

    A) Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run dialog, type compmgmt.msc, and press Enter.

    B) If prompted by UAC, click/tap on Yes.

    C) Click/tap on Disk Management in the left pane, and make note of the disk # in the middle pane of the disk that you want to clean or clean all. (see screenshot below)
    NOTE: For example, I would use Disk 1 if I wanted to use clean or clean all on my USB key drive.
    Disk - Clean and Clean All with Diskpart Command-computer_management-1.jpg


    3. In the elevated command prompt, type diskpart and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
    Disk - Clean and Clean All with Diskpart Command-step1.jpg
    4. In the elevated command prompt, type list disk and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
    NOTE: This will give you a list of disk numbers to select from.
    Disk - Clean and Clean All with Diskpart Command-step2.jpg
    5. In the elevated command prompt, type select disk # and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
    NOTE: You would substitute # for the disk number listed that you want to use clean or clean all on. For example, I want to use one of them on Disk 1 (from step 1) for my USB key drive, so I would type select disk 1 and press Enter.
    Disk - Clean and Clean All with Diskpart Command-step3.jpg
    6. If the status of the selected disk # (ex: Disk 3) shows as Offline, type online disk, and press Enter to make it online. (see screenshot below)
    Disk - Clean and Clean All with Diskpart Command-diskpart_online_disk.png
    7. Do either step 8 or 9 below for which command you would like to use.


    8. To Use the Clean Diskpart Command
    NOTE: (Recommended) See the green INFO box at the top of the tutorial for more information about this command. This command will wipe the HDD quickly.
    A) In the elevated command prompt, type clean, press Enter, and go to step 10 below. (see screenshot below)
    NOTE: This will not take long to finish. Think of it as being like a quick format.
    Disk - Clean and Clean All with Diskpart Command-step4_clean.jpg
    9. To Use the Clean All Diskpart Command
    NOTE: See the green INFO box at the top of the tutorial for more information about this command. This command will wipe the HDD, and perform a secure erase. "Clean All" takes about an hour per 320 GB to finish running. It's best to only use this command if you wanted to help make sure that the data on the HDD cannot be recovered say when giving or selling the HDD to another person.
    A) In the elevated command prompt, type clean all, and press Enter, and go to step 10 below. You will see the command prompt below as is until the "clean all" command is finished. (see screenshot below)

    NOTE: This will take quite some time (several hours or more) to finish depending on how large the disk is since it is writing over each and every sector on it to zero. Think of it as being like a full or low level format.
    Disk - Clean and Clean All with Diskpart Command-step4_clean_all.jpg
    10. When finished, in the elevated command prompt, type exit and press Enter. Close the elevated command prompt.

    11. The disk will be left as unallocated space. (see screenshot below)
    Disk - Clean and Clean All with Diskpart Command-computer_management-2.jpg
    12. You will now need to create a new partition or volume on the disk to be able to use it again.



    That's it,
    Shawn










  1. Posts : 8,375
    W7 Ultimate x64/W10 Pro x64/W11 Pro Triple Boot - Main PC W7 Remote PC Micro ATX W7 Pro x64/W11 Pro
       #1

    I can remember zero filling drives only 13gb or less using a dos tool and that would take just about the entire day when you mention "full format"!

    Nice and simple! This will be a help when going to wipe any flash drive as well.
      My Computers


  2. Posts : 22,814
    W 7 64-bit Ultimate
       #2

    Hello Brink.


    I just did this on my SSD and at first I thought to make the SSD "Offline" in disk management but in the command window it said that it could not "clean all" on a disk that's "Offline"; you may want to add a mention of this in the tutorial; I'm sorry I didn't think to get you a snip of it, but it should be easy to replicate.

    It only took about 15 minutes to do a "clean all" on an 80GB SSD, not bad.




    Thank you!
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 22,814
    W 7 64-bit Ultimate
       #3

    Here's the snip, I re-did it for you.


    Disk - Clean and Clean All with Diskpart Command-disk.jpg
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 71,959
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Hello Ted,

    Ok. I added step 1D to help others avoid this. Thank you for finding this. :)
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 22,814
    W 7 64-bit Ultimate
       #5

    You're welcome Shawn, thank you for all the hard work you put in around here making it easy for the rest of us. :)
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 49
    Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit
       #6

    Thanks a lot for this great post.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 71,959
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #7

    You're most welcome Need4steer, and welcome to Seven Forums. :)
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 1
    Windows 7 Ultimate
       #8

    Thanks


    Thanks
    but unfortunately it doesn't work with me i will give up maintaining my flash drive
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 71,959
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #9

    Hello Zezoclo, and welcome to Seven Forums.

    Could you give us more details on what part did not work for you, and include any error messages or screenshots? We may be able to help to get it to work for you.
      My Computer


 
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