Deleting Windows from HDD ?

[Mike99]

I was playing around & installed a Windows 7 image on a new HDD to see how fast a fresh install boots up. The HDD was intended for storage & now I want to use it for that. When I put the image on it I never thought about the implications on deleting it. But now I realize there are the 2 regular partitions & the 100MB System Reserved partition on it. If I format the C and D partitions that still leaves the System Reserved to be dealt with. And of course there’s the matter of getting rid of the partitions & putting the HDD back into a single partition just like it was when new & in the box.

I searched quite a bit & this particular Partition Wizard seems like it will do the job.
Thanks for Downloading MiniTool Partition Wizard Free

It’s bootable off of a CD & therefore don’t have to rely on having a working HDD with Windows on it. IOW connect the HDD in question & boot the PC with the Partition Wizard disc in it & follow the instructions.

Does this seem like a reasonable way to restore the HDD to new condition?
Or is there some other preferred recommended approach?
Any suggestions & comments would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

 

[mjf]

I'd say you'd be safer to use the bootable CD
https://www.partitionwizard.com/partition-wizard-bootable-cd.html
Disconnect all other SSDs/HDDs. Delete the partitions and reformat the HDD as NTFS/primary (not logical). Note with Partition Wizard you need to select apply the operations.

A disk management screenshot would be useful since your experimental install may have altered an existing OS implementation.

 

[Mike99]

The bootable CD is the product I meant. The link I posted is what came up after I downloaded the bootable CD software.

What do mean "may have altered an existing OS implementation"? The image was put on a new HDD.

I'll have to put the HDD back in in order to get a screenshot.

 

[MilesAhead]

Are you going to leave the HD in the machine? IOW, you will have 2 physical HD after you reinstall Windows? If not why not get a docking station and plug the drive into it? Even the fast ones are very cheap these days.

Once you have your Windows system running again you can use the diskpart command in an Admin command prompt to clean up the HD in the dock, create a primary partition, then format it NTFS etc..

Depending on the size of the drive it may take a couple of hours to do a slow format. But I recommend it since it will mark bad sectors as it writes zeroes to the drive. It may save problems later.

 

[Eric3742]

You already download the exe to create a Partition Wizard Boot disc. (i did use the same method.)
Now you want to wipe clean.

1. Let the new HDD in the computer, ignore your HDD with Windows OS, no need to insert yet.
2. Insert the PW disc, if cannot, then do it at point #5.
3. Turn on the computer AND continue to press F2 to go to the BIOS option.
4. In the boot option, do go to change the boot startup to CD drive.
5. Before doing F10 -> Save BIOS and boot.
Do ensure that the PW disc is inside and running then proceed to point 6.

6. This PW disc will boot to Partition Wizard directly, hence no need to do anything.
7. Prompt to proceed.
8. Please wait....

9. Now you are at Partition Wizard. MiniTool Partition Magic 9.
10. Select the 1st partition and at the menu (left) or top (Icon) select Delete and confirmation.
11. Select the 2nd partition and Delete. If any more partition you want to delete, same procedure.

12. Then you can create one partition.

13. Exit -> click on the top right window.

14. Do not forget to go to F2 and change the boot option, after you had done.

There should not be any problem, as i had done several times.

Eric.

 

[cajuntiger]

Computer Management snap in does all of that. You can resize and delete partitions within it. No need to install that.

 

[Mike99]

Are you going to leave the HD in the machine? IOW, you will have 2 physical HD after you reinstall Windows? If not why not get a docking station and plug the drive into it? Even the fast ones are very cheap these days.

Once you have your Windows system running again you can use the diskpart command in an Admin command prompt to clean up the HD in the dock, create a primary partition, then format it NTFS etc..

Depending on the size of the drive it may take a couple of hours to do a slow format. But I recommend it since it will mark bad sectors as it writes zeroes to the drive. It may save problems later.

1) I have the original HDD with Win7 & programs & data on it. I planned on keeping this as-is as a backup. It will not remain connected & I might get a docking station or enclosure for it.

2) There's the "experimental" HDD which I want to clean up & use for data only.

3) And an SSD to which I just installed a clean copy of Win7.

 

[cajuntiger]

1) I have the original HDD with Win7 & programs & data on it. I planned on keeping this as-is as a backup. It will not remain connected & I might get a docking station or enclosure for it.

2) There's the "experimental" HDD which I want to clean up & use for data only.

3) And an SSD to which I just installed a clean copy of Win7.

If you want to wipe a HDD I suggest using CCleaner. Great program for wiping HDDs.

 

[Mike99]

You already download the exe to create a Partition Wizard Boot disc. (i did use the same method.)
Now you want to wipe clean.

9. Now you are at Partition Wizard. MiniTool Partition Magic 9.
10. Select the 1st partition and at the menu (left) or top (Icon) select Delete and confirmation.
11. Select the 2nd partition and Delete. If any more partition you want to delete, same procedure.

12. Then you can create one partition.

13. Exit -> click on the top right window.

There should not be any problem, as i had done several times.

Eric.

Is there an extra step to create one partition as mentioned in step #12, or will that happen automatically because all the partitions have been deleted?

Will the data also get deleted when the partitions get deleted, or should the HDD be formatted?

 

[cajuntiger]

You already download the exe to create a Partition Wizard Boot disc. (i did use the same method.)
Now you want to wipe clean.

9. Now you are at Partition Wizard. MiniTool Partition Magic 9.
10. Select the 1st partition and at the menu (left) or top (Icon) select Delete and confirmation.
11. Select the 2nd partition and Delete. If any more partition you want to delete, same procedure.

12. Then you can create one partition.

13. Exit -> click on the top right window.

There should not be any problem, as i had done several times.

Eric.

Is there an extra step to create one partition as mentioned in step #12, or will that happen automatically because all the partitions have been deleted?

Will the data also get deleted when the partitions get deleted, or should the HDD be formatted?

When you format it, you will delete all of your data. You have to delete the partition, or extend your C:, if you have two to make it one partition. Your Computer Management snap in can do all of that.

 

[Mike99]

Just to clarify, I wondered if formatting needed to be done AFTER the partitions were deleted. IOW not instead of deleting the partitions.

 

[cajuntiger]

Well, usually during a clean install you would perform a format. however, during a partition resizing you would simply "delete" manually.

 

[AddRAM]

I`ve been recommending the Partition Wizard Boot CD for Centuries

I think it`s the safest way possible to manage drives/partitions etc.

 

[AddRAM]

Just to clarify, I wondered if formatting needed to be done AFTER the partitions were deleted. IOW not instead of deleting the partitions.

You can`t format deleted/unallocated space. Partitions must be created 1st.

 

[mjf]

You cannot format a drive that is not initialized (it basically has nothing on it but hard sectoring now determined at manufacture). Windows will prompt you in this case and you are given the option of MBR or GPT initialization. This places information on the drive which describes basic things such as how partitions will be described etc.

You then end up with unallocated partitions. You format these individually to add a file system within a partition so that files can be managed.

For NTFS primary formatting (the normal choice) you can have up to 4 partitions to a single drive for MBR initialization. Your drive is then ready to go as an OS drive or a pure data drive or a mix. You can then add partition labels and specific partition letters if you wish.
So you could have for example: Label: Data Partition 1, Drive letter D; Label: Data Partition 2, Drive letter E. etc.

It may sound complex but it isn't really.

 

[Mike99]

Presuming I use the Partition Wizard bootable version as mentioned, does that mean I should not delete all the partitions? That I should leave one intact?

Or if I delete all the partitions in order to make sure I got all of the Windows OS off the drive, will Partition Wizard allow me to create a new partition out of "nowhere"?

Sorry for all the questions, I just don't want to mess up a brand new HDD.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Yes it should allow you to create or just mark the entire disk as active
Then you can install windows on the disk or newly created partition
I believe most of use prefer to make additional partitions after an install to avoid a 100mb system reserved partition being created during the install.

But I have not read back on how you're installing as MBR or GPT style disk either.

 

[mjf]

I was playing around & installed a Windows 7 image on a new HDD to see how fast a fresh install boots up. The HDD was intended for storage & now I want to use it for that.

You started with this comment.
When you disconnect the "new HDD" does your system still boot and work ok? If yes then you can use PW to
delete all partitions on the "new HDD" - apply
format as one ntfs primary - apply
use move/resize to create other partitions as desired. You will get unallocated space and you will need to apply the format operation.
Just don't go over 4 primary partitions and make sure you are operating on the "new HDD".

 

[AddRAM]

Presuming I use the Partition Wizard bootable version as mentioned, does that mean I should not delete all the partitions? That I should leave one intact?

Or if I delete all the partitions in order to make sure I got all of the Windows OS off the drive, will Partition Wizard allow me to create a new partition out of "nowhere"?

Sorry for all the questions, I just don't want to mess up a brand new HDD.

If you are going to use the drive for data, then yes, delete the entire disk to unallocated space, then make 1 primary partition or chop it up into 4 Primaries, I see no point in chopping it up, but that is your choice.

Partition Wizard will do everything for you. 1st delete, then create, then align, that`s it you`re done

 

[Mike99]

I downloaded the Partition Wizard Boot disc and burned the .iso to a CD-R.

I booted with the CD-R and got 2 choices:
1) MiniTool Partition Wizard Boot Disk 9
2) Boot from local drive

I chose MiniTool Partition Wizard & got a black screen.
First it said: Loading /casper/vmlinuz.efi
Then: Loading /casper/tinycore.gz

Then there many lines of "...................................."
Then several screens of text
Then the monitor displayed "No Signal".

What am I doing wrong?