Diskpart's clean all versus Full Format


  1. Posts : 11,269
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
       #1

    Diskpart's clean all versus Full Format


    As I understand it (I was reading this thread Need HDDErase That will work with SATA ...), clean all writes all sectors to 0 on a disk. As I understand from post #13 by Brink, full format will set aside bad sectors so the disk uses only the good sectors when written. Does clean all have the same effect of cleaning up bad sectors, or is it purely for security by writing zeros?
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 72,058
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
       #2

    Hello Mike,

    A full format would only format the selected partition on a HDD.

    A Clean All command would wipe all partitions and information on the entire HDD, and do a secure erase on the HDD to help prevent the data from being to be recovered.

    Hope this helps,
    Shawn
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 11,269
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Brink said:
    Hello Mike,

    A full format would only format the selected partition on a HDD.

    A Clean All command would wipe all partitions and information on the entire HDD, and do a secure erase on the HDD to help prevent the data from being to be recovered.

    Hope this helps,
    Shawn
    How does "clean all" manage bad sectors? Does it just try to write them to zeros, or does it also scan for bad sectors and allocate around them?
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 72,058
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
       #4

    "clean all" doesn't manage or scan for bad sectors. It only secure erases all data and deletes all partitions on a HDD.

    To manage and scan for bad sectors, you would want to use the Disk Check instead.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 11,269
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Brink said:
    "clean all" doesn't manage or scan for bad sectors. It only secure erases all data and deletes all partitions on a HDD.

    To manage and scan for bad sectors, you would want to use the Disk Check instead.
    Okay, that is what I thought. Thank you for enforcing my understanding of Diskpart. :)
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 72,058
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
       #6

    You're most welcome. :)
      My Computer


 

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