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SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation
How to Ready an SSD / HDD to Reinstall an Operating System
Published by Bare Foot Kid
14 Jun 2010
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 Published by |
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How to Optimize an SSD / HDD When You're Ready to Reinstall the Operating System
This will show how to remove / over-write all existing data from a Solid State Drive (SSD) or a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), it'll work for both, then how to create a partition and then format that partition before install begins so you have a clean drive to start the installation with.
 Note
Before you start this, in the Windows start menu search box type diskmgmt.msc right click the entry and click "Run as Administrator" if you get a User Account Control (UAC) prompt enter your user credentials and click Yes; make very sure you know the correct drive number of the drive you want to do this to if you have more than one SSD / HDD in the machine, you don't want to do the wrong one.
 Warning
Do not do this to any SSD or HDD that has data on it you don't want to lose, the first thing this does is to mark the drive as "Unallocated Space" and then writes zeroes ( 0's ) to the entire drive, it's known as a " Secure Erase" and it will make data un-recoverable, it cannot be done to just a single partition on a drive, it will do the whole drive.
You have been warned!
 Information
It may be a help to over-write the HDD Master Boot Record (MBR) before you start any other procedure using the diskpart clean command, rather than the clean all; it takes just seconds to complete so you will have "unallocated" space to use either the Windows installer to create and format the partition(s) or use diskpart for that, however you choose.
Let's get started!
 Step One 
Boot To DISKPART
If need be, view this tutorial at the link below for an out-line of the process.
How to Boot to DISKPART at PC Startup
1) In the command window that opens type diskpart then hit the <enter> key then type list disk <enter> if you have more than one SSD / HDD in the machine it'll list them all.
Have a look here to view additional important information on this entire process.click any image to enlarge

2) Now in the command window type select disk # (# = target disk number) then <enter>, you will get "Disk # is now the selected disk".
3) Now type clean <enter> you will get a blinking cursor telling you that clean all is working like in the second snip down, just relax and let it work.

4) When it finishes you'll get "DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk" in the command window.
To leave diskpart at any time and return to the Windows 7 installer type exit two (2) separate times and hit <enter> after each and you will be returned to the installer to continue the installation process.
 Step Two 
Create a Partition
1) Create a single partition of the entire HDD / SSD
Still in the same command window, to create a partition of the entire HDD / SSD, it is suggested if you are using one of the larger, 1 - 2TB HDDs that you use the outline in #2 below to create a single 100GB partition to do the installation to or #3 below if you would like to include the new Windows 7 System Reserved partition, as we're now seeing serious issues with some trying to install to such large partitions.
Do not format the created partition(s) with the installer if you create them using this process as the installer will delete all this info, the second snip shows how to select "where to install" during the installation process, click to highlight/select the "Windows 7" partition and click next.
Now skip down to #5 below to start the installation.click any image to enlarge


2) Create a specific size partition
If you wanted to create a specific size partition, say 100GB you would add the size you want to create in MBs like in the command below.create partition primary size=102400 <enter>
1024MB = 1GB - 1024x100 = 102400, you can use/create any size you like.
You can always extend the Windows partition to include the remaining unallocated space on the HDD / SSD or create additional Primary partitions or an Extended partition after the installation completes if you choose.
Do not format the created partition(s) with the installer if you create them using this process as the installer will delete all this info, the second snip shows how to select "where to install" during the installation process, click to highlight/select the "Windows 7" partition and click next.
Now skip down to #5 below to start the installation.

3) Create the System Reserved partition
If you should want to add the "System Reserved" partition back after the clean all, see this snip; of course you would have to select to install Windows 7 to the partition labeled as "Windows 7" during the install and do not format either partition with the installer.
The reason for suggesting to create the System Reserved at 200MB instead of the new default of 100MB is an attempt to curb some of the issues we're now seeing with the partition being too small when dual/multi booting and it also being needed for use with the Windows 7 Backup and Restore and BitLocker programs.
You can always extend the Windows partition to include the remaining unallocated space on the HDD / SSD or create additional Primary partitions or an Extended partition after the installation completes if you choose.
The second snip shows how to select "where to install" during the installation process, click to highlight/select the "Windows 7" partition and click next.

4) See this tutorial for the "align" argument
Align a Solid State Drive for Windows Installation
5) That's it, you're now done with the command window, type exit <enter> to leave diskpart and exit <enter> again to close the command window; if you're using a Windows 7 full installer it will go to the "Select Language" screen to continue the installation process as usual.
For those using a created repair CD or a Vista installer type exit <enter> to leave diskpart and exit <enter> again to close the command window; at the System Recovery Options dialog box that's still open click Restart to finish the process.
Enjoy! :)
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18 Jun 2010
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#1
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Excellent, Ted. Very well done. I can even follow it. :)
I tried to rep you; but I must spread some around.
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My System Specs |
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System Manufacturer/Model Number Home built
OS Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit
CPU Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
Motherboard ASUS P4P800-VM Motherboard Chipset: Intel 865G + ICH5
Memory 2.50 GB RAM
Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS
Sound Card SoundMax Integrated Digital Audio (Chip)
Monitor(s) Displays ViewSonic VX 1962 wm
Screen Resolution 1680 X 1050
Keyboard Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000 v10 USB
Mouse Logitec optic USB
Cooling Fan based
Hard Drives Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 80 GB
ST380215A ATA Device 18.6 GB
Western Digital "My Book" external hard drive 750 GB
Internet Speed 3.01 Mb/s download 0.64 Mb/s upload
18 Jun 2010
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#3
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Thank you Carl and theog! :)
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My System Specs |
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System Manufacturer/Model Number * BFK Customs *
OS W 7 64-bit Ultimate
CPU Intel Q9550 Yorkfield
Motherboard ASUS P5Q Pro
Memory 8GB Dominator 8500C5D
Graphics Card ATI : XFX 5870
Sound Card Realtek HD Audio 7-1
Monitor(s) Displays 1x 47" LCD HDMI & 3x 26" LCD HDMI
Screen Resolution 1920x1080P & 1920x1200
Keyboard Microsoft 500
Mouse Razer Diamondback 3G
PSU Corsair 620HX
Case Cooler Master RC-690
Cooling Tuniq Tower 120, 2x 140mm and 3x 120mm case fans
Hard Drives 1x 80GB Intel X25-M G2 SSD : 1x 500GB & 1x 640GB WD Caviar Black(s)
Internet Speed 14 Mb/s
Other Info 1x Koutech 3Gb/s SATA HDD Hot Swap Rack
18 Jun 2010
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#4
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You are very welcome, Ted.
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My System Specs |
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System Manufacturer/Model Number Home built
OS Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit
CPU Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
Motherboard ASUS P4P800-VM Motherboard Chipset: Intel 865G + ICH5
Memory 2.50 GB RAM
Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS
Sound Card SoundMax Integrated Digital Audio (Chip)
Monitor(s) Displays ViewSonic VX 1962 wm
Screen Resolution 1680 X 1050
Keyboard Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000 v10 USB
Mouse Logitec optic USB
Cooling Fan based
Hard Drives Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 80 GB
ST380215A ATA Device 18.6 GB
Western Digital "My Book" external hard drive 750 GB
Internet Speed 3.01 Mb/s download 0.64 Mb/s upload
18 Jun 2010
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#5
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Nice tut BFK,
Good info, easy to follow, well done.
Occasionally I check the usual sites for SSD pricing, more "Out of Stock" all the time, we're already seeing an increase on requests for help with SSDs.
This will help.
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My System Specs |
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Computer type PC/Desktop
System Manufacturer/Model Number 76~2.0
OS Windows 7 Ult x64 - SP1/ Windows 8 Pro x64
CPU Intel Core i5-3570K 4.6GHz
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-Z77X UD3H, f18
Memory 8GB (2X4GB) DDR3 1600 Corsair Vengeance CL8 1.5v
Graphics Card Sapphire HD 7770 Vapor-X OC 1GB DDR5
Sound Card Onboard VIA VT2021
Monitor(s) Displays 22" LCD Dell
Screen Resolution 1680x1050
Keyboard Logitech Wave
Mouse CM Sentinel
PSU Corsair HX650W
Case Cooler Master Storm Scout
Cooling Corsair H80 2x12cm Noctua NF P12 , 2x14cm case fans
Hard Drives Samsung 840Pro 128GB SSD,
Seagate Barracuda 500GB SATA2 7200rpm 32MB cache, Seagate Barracuda 1TB SATA2 7200rpm 32MB cache,
Internet Speed Dismal
Antivirus Avast
Browser Opera Next
Other Info Haswell laptop: HP Envy 17t-j, i7-4700MQ, GeForce 740M 2GB DDR3, 17.3" Full HD 1920x1080, 16GB RAM, Samsung 840 Pro 128GB, 1TB Hitachi 7200 HDD,
Desktop: eSATA ports,
External eSATA Seagate 500GB SATA2 7200rpm,
External WD USB 500GB
19 Jun 2010
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#6
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pressing Shift + F10 when the Win7 "install" window pops up will open cmd and save some time.
Good work :)
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My System Specs |
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System Manufacturer/Model Number Gigabyte EX58Extreme
OS win7 Enterprise X64
CPU i7 920
Motherboard Gigabyte Ex58 Extreme
Memory OCZ 6GB DDR3 1600 MHZ, runnong @ 1560
Graphics Card Sapphair HD 5850 1 GB GDDR5
Sound Card Built in SPDIF, Samsung hometheater system 5.1
Monitor(s) Displays Hitachi 42" LCD 1920 X 1080
Screen Resolution 1920 x 1080
Keyboard Microsoft IR wireless
Mouse Microsoft IR wireless
PSU thermaltake thoughpower 850 WATT
Case thearmaltake Armur
Cooling Satandard Intel CPU, Standard thermaltake Arum fans
Hard Drives 2X 160GB Maxtor RAID0, 500GB WD (Bakcup & movies), 2TB Seagate.
Internet Speed 4MB
19 Jun 2010
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#7
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Thanks Dave and adamsuail! :)
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My System Specs |
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System Manufacturer/Model Number * BFK Customs *
OS W 7 64-bit Ultimate
CPU Intel Q9550 Yorkfield
Motherboard ASUS P5Q Pro
Memory 8GB Dominator 8500C5D
Graphics Card ATI : XFX 5870
Sound Card Realtek HD Audio 7-1
Monitor(s) Displays 1x 47" LCD HDMI & 3x 26" LCD HDMI
Screen Resolution 1920x1080P & 1920x1200
Keyboard Microsoft 500
Mouse Razer Diamondback 3G
PSU Corsair 620HX
Case Cooler Master RC-690
Cooling Tuniq Tower 120, 2x 140mm and 3x 120mm case fans
Hard Drives 1x 80GB Intel X25-M G2 SSD : 1x 500GB & 1x 640GB WD Caviar Black(s)
Internet Speed 14 Mb/s
Other Info 1x Koutech 3Gb/s SATA HDD Hot Swap Rack
19 Jun 2010
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#8
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Ted you are really becoming Sevenforums SSD guru. Excellent job!
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My System Specs |
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System Manufacturer/Model Number Self Built:kellymac35/TOSHIBA LAPTOP X775 3DV78
OS WINDOWS 7 Ultimate x64 Full
CPU INTEL i7 930/INTEL i7 2630QM 2.9 GHz With Turbo Boost
Motherboard EVGA X58 3X SLI CLASSIFIED/TOSHIBA
Memory MUSHKIN ENHANCED 12GB/8GB SAMSUNG DDR3 1333 MHz
Graphics Card EVGA GTX570 S.C(SLI) FERMI /GTX560M 1.5GB of GDDR 5 DISCRETE
Sound Card REALTEK ON BOARD /BUILT IN HARMAN KARDON STEREO SPKS
Monitor(s) Displays TOSHIBA 32'' /17.3" LCD 3D READY 120 Hz LED BACKLIT
Screen Resolution 1360x768/1920x1080
Keyboard Logitech MX 3200/PREMIUM RAISED TILE LED BACKLIT
Mouse Logitech
PSU CORSAIR Professional Series AX1200 1200W
Case THERMALTAKE Xaser VI
Cooling CORSAIR HYDRO SERIES H70
Hard Drives MUSHKIN Enhanced Callisto Deluxe SSD X 2 240GB RAID 0/MUSHKIN Enhanced Callisto Deluxe 240 GB SSD 750 GB Serial ATA Hard Drive
Internet Speed DSL
Other Info (SPDIF) To Kenwood VR-6070 Lucasfilm THX Select Surround EX
19 Jun 2010
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#9
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Hello kellymac35, thank you! :)
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My System Specs |
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System Manufacturer/Model Number * BFK Customs *
OS W 7 64-bit Ultimate
CPU Intel Q9550 Yorkfield
Motherboard ASUS P5Q Pro
Memory 8GB Dominator 8500C5D
Graphics Card ATI : XFX 5870
Sound Card Realtek HD Audio 7-1
Monitor(s) Displays 1x 47" LCD HDMI & 3x 26" LCD HDMI
Screen Resolution 1920x1080P & 1920x1200
Keyboard Microsoft 500
Mouse Razer Diamondback 3G
PSU Corsair 620HX
Case Cooler Master RC-690
Cooling Tuniq Tower 120, 2x 140mm and 3x 120mm case fans
Hard Drives 1x 80GB Intel X25-M G2 SSD : 1x 500GB & 1x 640GB WD Caviar Black(s)
Internet Speed 14 Mb/s
Other Info 1x Koutech 3Gb/s SATA HDD Hot Swap Rack
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