Disk - Clean and Clean All with Diskpart Command

How to "Clean" or "Clean All" a Disk with the Diskpart Command​

   Information

This will show you how to use the clean or clean all command on a selected disk to delete all of it's MBR or GPT partitions, volumes, and any hidden sector information on MBR disks is overwritten.

The data on the HDD is not written over using the clean command like it does with the clean all command below. With the clean command, the data on the HDD is only marked as being deleted instead and is only written over when new data is written/saved to the same location on the HDD next.

OR

You could use the clean all command (secure erase) to do the above and also have each and every disk sector on the HDD written over and zeroed out completely to securely delete all data on the disk to help prevent the data from being able to be recovered. "Clean All" takes about an hour per 320 GB to finish running.

   Note

• You cannot use the clean or clean all diskpart commands on a boot disk (ex: disk Windows is installed on) unless you do it from a command prompt at boot.

• Be sure to backup anything that you do not want to lose on the disk that you use clean or clean all on first. It will be to late afterwards. All data will be permanently lost on the disk.

   Warning

You do not want to use clean all on a SSD disk often. Having every sector written over to 0 on a SSD can reduce it's life span faster.

Here's How:

1. In Windows 7, open an elevated command prompt, or a command prompt at boot.

OR

2. In Windows 8 and 8.1, open an elevated command prompt, or a command prompt at boot.

   Note

Be sure that you have the correct Disk #. You would not want to wipe clean the wrong disk.

A) Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run dialog, type compmgmt.msc, and press Enter.

B) If prompted by UAC, click/tap on Yes.

C) Click/tap on Disk Management in the left pane, and make note of the disk # in the middle pane of the disk that you want to clean or clean all. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: For example, I would use Disk 1 if I wanted to use clean or clean all on my USB key drive.

3. In the elevated command prompt, type diskpart and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

4. In the elevated command prompt, type list disk and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: This will give you a list of disk numbers to select from.

5. In the elevated command prompt, type select disk # and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: You would substitute # for the disk number listed that you want to use clean or clean all on. For example, I want to use one of them on Disk 1 (from step 1) for my USB key drive, so I would type select disk 1 and press Enter.

6. If the status of the selected disk # (ex: Disk 3) shows as Offline, type online disk, and press Enter to make it online. (see screenshot below)

7. Do either step 8 or 9 below for which command you would like to use.


8. To Use the Clean Diskpart Command
NOTE: (Recommended) See the green INFO box at the top of the tutorial for more information about this command. This command will wipe the HDD quickly.
A) In the elevated command prompt, type clean, press Enter, and go to step 10 below. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: This will not take long to finish. Think of it as being like a quick format.

9. To Use the Clean All Diskpart Command
NOTE: See the green INFO box at the top of the tutorial for more information about this command. This command will wipe the HDD, and perform a secure erase. "Clean All" takes about an hour per 320 GB to finish running. It's best to only use this command if you wanted to help make sure that the data on the HDD cannot be recovered say when giving or selling the HDD to another person.
A) In the elevated command prompt, type clean all, and press Enter, and go to step 10 below. You will see the command prompt below as is until the "clean all" command is finished. (see screenshot below)

NOTE: This will take quite some time (several hours or more) to finish depending on how large the disk is since it is writing over each and every sector on it to zero. Think of it as being like a full or low level format.

10. When finished, in the elevated command prompt, type exit and press Enter. Close the elevated command prompt.

11. The disk will be left as unallocated space. (see screenshot below)

12. You will now need to create a new partition or volume on the disk to be able to use it again.



That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Shrink a Partition or Volume in Windows 7
• How to Create a New Partition or Volume in Windows 7
• How to Extend a Partition or Volume in Windows 7
• How to Delete a Partition or Volume in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Convert a FAT or FAT32 Volume to NTFS in Windows 7
• How to Convert a MBR Disk to a GPT Disk
• How to Convert a GPT Disk to a MBR Disk
• How to Convert a Basic Disk to a Dynamic Disk
• How to Convert a Dynamic Disk to a Basic Disk
• How to Quick Format a HDD or USB Drive
• How to Securely Wipe a Hard Disk with "Darik's Boot and Nuke"
• How to Overwrite Deleted Data using the "Cipher" Command in Windows

 

[Brink]

I would say than running the "Clean" command will completely wipe the drive to be "unallocated".

You could then just format the "unallocated" disk like any other drive.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2674-partition-volume-create-new.html

 

[jasonsmith]

I had downloaded a while back one of those software hack things and didn't like it showing up in my scans. i.e. PUP flag. So I deleted all of those files. But running a scan on an external hard drive, those PUP files had been sitting in the recycle bin or whatever $Recycle on the hard drive.

So I wanted to do a wipe on the drive to clean all of the data off and reload my data. I ended up just doing a "Clean", then I set it to MBR, then I did the LONG format. Well that thing took an entire day to do the LONG format as it is a 750GB drive. So I think I'll skip the DOD 3 pass wipe as that will be like 3 days.

I got real low GB hard drives to keep as spares to use to download files that may be questionable. That way doing a DOD 3 pass wipe to clean it up and reinstall the cloned image wouldn't take too long.

But hopefully doing a "Clean", resetting it to MBR, and doing a long format will erase any and all viruses or malware that may be hanging around somewhere on the drive.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Jason not to take anything away from what Brink has told you already - there is an alternative you can use for wiping the drive - well two really.
The one I use is the Partition Wizard wipe function MiniTool Free Partition Manager for Window 8/7/vista/xp | Partition Wizard Free Edition see my pic on how it runs. It does take some time but in my experience not quite as long as the DISKPART way.
The other is CCleaner's wipe but I have never tried it so cannot comment https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download < use the free version and it is under "Tools" and CC is also good for uninstalling stuff

 

[jasonsmith]

I've got Acronis True Image I've used to wipe drives. They have different options. Like the DOD 3 pass wipe. And also a single pass that I think writes all zeros. Only thing is I'm thinking that doesn't touch the MBR section. So I guess do the "clean" first before doing a wipe.

If doing a single "wipe" is that the same thing as just doing a "long" format?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Yes I suppose it doesn't matter what you use as long as it gets the job done. Those I mentioned are free and good and generally I stick to the DISKPART one.

 

[bobson114]

hi! You have a great tutorial! I would like to know what is the difference between the command "clean", "clean all" from the "quick format" and "format". And is it possible to run these commands (clean, clean all, format) without using diskpart and using the GUI. The command "delete volume in disk management is that the same? Sorry for my English (I hardly know him)

 

[Brink]

Hello Bobson, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Basically, "Clean" is like doing a quick format without a secure erase, and "Clean all" is like doing a full format with a secure erase. If you are keeping the hard drive, then "Clean" will be fine and quicker to use.

You can only run "Clean" or "Clean all" in a command prompt with diskpart. There's not a GUI for it.

 

[MetaBicks]

Hi guys.

I need to perform clean all on my only HDD so i can clean install Win7 before i sell my PC. I understand and have tried running a command prompt at boot in safe mode but two things happened. One, i still had to enter my windows password to log on before i got to the command prompt. Second, despite the procedure i got the message;

Virtual Disk Service error:
Clean is not allowed on the disk containing the current boot,
system, pagefile, crashdump or hibernation volume.

Any ideas?

Many thanks.

 

[Brink]

Hello MetaBicks, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You can boot from your retail installation media or system repair disc to delete/format and then perform a clean all on the drive at boot.

 

[MetaBicks]

Thanks for the welcome Brink and thanks for the tips.

Il see if it works.

 

[Clairvaux]

Clean, Clean All, DBAN and C-Cleaner

Hi Brink,

Here is what I understood from the thread, adding some assumptions of my own. Can you tell me if this is correct ?

If you only want to get rid of confirmed or suspected viruses : just use Clean. It is much quicker. Possible viruses will remain on your disk, since Clean does not erase files, but they won't be able to be activated afterwards, ever, even after you've repartitioned the disk and reinstalled Windows, since Clean destroys the data the system needs to find and use those files. (I'm especially unsure of this statement.)

If you want, on top of that or exclusively, to prevent any third party to recover your confidential data by using forensic software or other techniques, in case you give away your PC, discard the disk or it is stolen : use Clean all. It will overwrite the whole disk, defeating (ordinary) recovery techniques. Viruses, obviously, would be physically wiped as well.

If you want an even better level of defense against snooping on your data : use DBAN. It does a 3-pass overwrite (or even more).

All three methods may be used to erase all your disks, including your system disk, provided you boot from an external source (Windows DVD or flash drive, DBAN CD).

C-Cleaner's wipe function can be adjusted to multiple overwrites, but it's only good for erasing data drives or partitions, since it works from within Windows.

 

[Brink]

Hello Clairvaux,

If you have a virus, then usually wiping the disk completely by overriding it with a few passes should clean it.

However, there are some viruses out there are pretty stubborn.

 

[Clairvaux]

Thank you, Brink.

So, despite the vast difference in the time required, it might be a sound strategy to do a Clean all, or even to apply DBAN, when reinstalling from scratch, just in case one has a virus undetected by one's antivirus ?

However, there are some viruses out there are pretty stubborn.

Are you implying that some viruses could escape even a Clean all, or multiple-pass overwrite ?

 

[Brink]

"Clean" is fine since it marks the whole disk as deleted, and the data gets overridden as you use the drive.

One that get into your BIOS would be one type, but those are rare. You mostly have to worry about reinfecting the PC with say an infected USB that you didn't know about.

Just always use a good AV program (ex: Malwarebytes) to scan with to help be safe.

 

[Clairvaux]

Thanks.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hello Shawn I shall try again but I have tried to clean all a 250GB Samsung twice now and I come up with the message in the pic. In the Disk Management the disk is shown as unallocated as I just deleted the volume after seeing this was one way to get the disk cleaned.
Now does this mean I have trashed to disk or made it impossible for the disk to be cleaned (all) using this tutorial.?

I am just heading of to bed now as it is getting real late but shall check in the morning to see what has happened.

 

[Brink]

Hello John,

Odd, a semaphore timeout error is for when there is a problem with the network or network adapter.

Is this a network drive?

Are you able to run the "Clean" command instead?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hello Shawn as far as I know the two drives are not connected to any network.

What I have done so far I saw that deleting a volume would leave an unallocated space so did that but then it isn't recognized in the machine.

Currently I have had a 250GB being wiped via Partition Wizard but it ha only got to 19% and it seems to be stuck at that . Would it be because the drive is showing unallocated space??

Anyway I shall try a straight clean on the smaller drive on my laptop I just want to give these drives to a young fellow and be sure there is none of my personal data left on it - not that I don't trust him more I don't want any scraps left over mucking up his system.

 

[Benteke]

...All three methods may be used to erase all your disks, including your system disk, provided you boot from an external source (Windows DVD or flash drive, DBAN CD).

This is what I was wondering.... How to wipe a "system" drive.

 

[Brink]

...All three methods may be used to erase all your disks, including your system disk, provided you boot from an external source (Windows DVD or flash drive, DBAN CD).

This is what I was wondering.... How to wipe a "system" drive.

Hello Benteke,

Yep, you could boot to a command prompt at boot, then run the "clean" command to wipe the system disk.