If you are installing a full version of the windows 7 operating system you want to wipe the hdd BEFORE installing windows, not after. This is done by using the format options. If you have multiple partitions you may have to delete them both then format the disc into a single partition. Note that this may void manufacturer support as they like having their hidden partitions on the harddrive.
Hello Inovis, welcome to Seven Forums!
A wipe is not at all the same as a format.
I would suggest that after you have copied out or made back-ups of the data you need to save to external media you use Step One of this tutorial at the link below to do a wipe (secure erase) to the entire Hard Disk Drive, running this then using the outline in Step Two #2 to create and format a single 100GB partition; using diskpart will get you a clean all and a chkdsk /r for the best possible space to install Windows 7 to.Note
Contrary to popular belief, doing a format with Windows 7 does not remove any data at all, it just checks for sector errors and marks the space to be over-written as needed, all the data is still there including all the code from previous/failed installation attempts.
SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation
How to Do a Clean Installation with Windows 7
Be sure to post back with any further questions you may have and to keep us informed.
Ah thanks for the clarification bfk, I was not aware that had changed with win 7.
Sorry for any confusion I may have caused there.
There's a catch I need to save almost 70 GB of data and I don't have such big external media, so I manage to make disk D and E to save my data.
Hello again.
In that cas you can use the free Partition Wizard boot disk to do a partition-specific wipe of the Windows partition, do not use the method I posted above as it will do the entire HDD and all the data will be lost.
Have a look at Option Three in this tutorial at the link below for an outline of the process.
Partition Wizard : Use the Bootable CD
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