Use clean not "clean all".A Description of the Diskpart Command-Line Utility
clean [all]
Use the clean command to remove partition or volume formatting from the current in-focus disk by zeroing sectors. By default, only the MBR or GPT partitioning information and any hidden sector information on MBR disks is overwritten. If you specify the all parameter, each and every sector can be zeroed, and all data that is contained on the drive can be deleted.
"By default, only the MBR or GPT partitioning information and any hidden sector information on MBR disks is overwritten." So it only deletes the MBR sector of the disk, leaving the rest?
"Clean" overrides first 1MB of disk with zeros. First 1 sector (512bytes) on disk is the MBR. It consists of:
- Disk signature (unique number so windows knows what disk is what. So you can swap cables without issues).
- partition table: where starts each partition and its size. alos filesystem type etc.
- boot code: The code to run. Actually this code searches the first ACTIVE partition and loads that volume boot sector.
"clean all" is handy if you sell the disk... no traces of any files will be on disk
My Computer
At a glance
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bits 7601...Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU M 370 @ 2.40GHz4,00 GBATI Mobility Radeon HD 5400 Series
- Computer type
- Laptop
- Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
- ACER ASPIRE 5742G
- OS
- Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bits 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
- CPU
- Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU M 370 @ 2.40GHz
- Motherboard
- Acer Aspire 5742G
- Memory
- 4,00 GB
- Graphics Card(s)
- ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5400 Series
- Sound Card
- (1) AMD High Definition Audio Device (2) Realtek High Defi
- Screen Resolution
- 1366 x 768 x 32 bits (4294967296 colors) @ 60 Hz
- Hard Drives
- WDC WD5000BEVT-22ZAT0