I have an old laptop HDD I'm trying to reformat as a data drive. How do I remove all the old Windows partitions? The drive has Windows 10 installed, and I'm booted from another drive using Windows 10. I had used the Windows drive manager to delete the Windows XP partitions off a different drive earlier, but this one doesn't seem to work the same way.
From the information you gave, I see that you want to reformat the old HDD and reuse it as a data disk, which requires the deletion of all the existing partitions on this disk. There is a protection mechanism in Windows built-in tool, which will prevent you from deleting the OS partition. In this case, you need to use some professional three-party tools.
However, compared to the common methods of deleting partitions and reformatting the hard drive, wiping the HDD can erase all the data on the old drive completely and permanently. In this post, I will provide two efficient ways to help you wipe out the data and turn the old disk into a brand-new one. Both are free and reliable; you can choose any according to your situation.
Important: All methods will erase the stored data of the partition. Therefore, back up your valuable data before proceeding, and follow the step-by-step tutorial to remove unwanted partitions.
Guide 1. Try EaseUS Partition Master
Let's start with the easiest tool: EaseUS Partition Master Free is a powerful partition management utility that allows you to wipe data on disk or partition and even the unallocated space in Windows 10. Moreover, it is easy to operable, so you can easily wipe the disk with its help. Now, download EaseUS Partition Master and follow the instruction below:
Step 1. Open EaseUS Partition Master, select the target HDD, and right-click it to choose "Wipe Disk."
Step 2. Adjust the number of times to wipe data. Then Click "OK." (You can set it to 10 at most.)
Step 3. Click "Execute 1 Task" and then click "Apply."
Guide 2. Using CMD
The second way is to clean all command lines, which is complex for computer beginners, and incorrect operation can cause severe problems. Follow the steps carefully to wipe the old HDD:
Step 1. Search Command Prompt in the control panel search box, and right-click it to click "Run as Administrator."
Step 2. Type diskpart and tap "Enter," type the following command lines on the Diskpart window and hit "Enter" each time:
Step 3. Wait for the wipe process to finish, and use exit CMD to quit.
If you need to partition the HDD after wiping it, refer to the following link:
Related Article: Efficient Ways to Partition Hard Drive Disk
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