Formating 3tb drive..diskpart clean or clean all


  1. Posts : 5
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
       #1

    Formating 3tb drive..diskpart clean or clean all


    I am having to format a 3tb drive that I am installing Windows 7 on and I need to know do I need to do clean all or just clean in diskpart? What happened is I did not know about the GPT (first time dealing with a drive over 2tb) and I just went through the motions like you do with installing. Well it didnt partition right and I only had 2 tb showing. So, I started using Seagates tools but found those cumbersome. So I am using Diskpart now. Will clean take it back to zeros and ones so I can take advantage of the 3tb or do I have to use clean all.

    Thanks for the help!

    Donna
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 6,458
    x64 (6.3.9600) Win8.1 Pro & soon dual boot x64 (6.1.7601) Win7_SP1 HomePrem
       #2

    Clean will wipe the first 100MB and last 100MB of the drive
    Clean all wipes the entire drive - in most cases it is overkill.

    All you need is clean - but be careful you've selected the correct drive.

    Good luck
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 11,408
    ME/XP/Vista/Win7
       #3

    1) CLEAN is OK, no need to use CLEAN ALL.

    2) To use a 3tb HDD as a boot OS drive you need to install on a motherboard with a UEFI/BIOS firmware.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 5
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Well there is only the one drive so thats not a problem. So clean will allow me to make it a GPT drive and then be able to use the entire 3tb (I know there will be 3 partitions when installing). The MB is already set to UEFI so thats not a problem either.
      My Computer


  5. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       #5

    Clean All would take a VERY long time for a drive that size. And all it does in addition to a simple Clean is to write zeros over the whole disk.

    Btw: that's why you never use a Clean All for SSDs.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 5
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #6

    Gotcha....dont have SSDs yet but one day soon. Ok, well I am going to do that then. Thanks for all your help!!! I may be back with questions but I will start a new thread if need be,

    Thanks again everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
      My Computer


 

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