Forum Discussion
How to wipe a hard drive on Windows 10 using command prompt
I'm trying to wipe a hard drive using the command prompt in Windows 10, and I'm not entirely sure how to go about it. I want to make sure that the drive is completely erased, as I plan to either sell the computer or repurpose the drive for a different use. I've heard that there are specific commands I need to use, but I'm concerned about doing it correctly without risking any data loss on other drives.
I'm looking for a reliable way to do this without using third-party software, and I'd love to hear from anyone who has experience with wiping drives through the command prompt in Windows 10. Thanks in advance!
Seriously, once you wipe the hard drive on Windows 10 computer, everything is gone for good, and Microsoft isn’t giving you any freebies to recover it. Before you get started, take a few minutes to move any files you might need over to another drive or a cloud service.
Using command prompt to wipe a hard drive on Windows 10 can definitely be the right move, especially if you want a quick and effective way to clean things up. I’ve done this myself a few times. You get more granular control over the process. For instance, with DiskPart, you can easily select which drive to wipe, rather than fumbling through settings.
Wiping a hard drive via command prompt in Windows 10 is a pretty straightforward process,make sure you know exactly which drive you want to wipe. Just to be safe, it’s a great idea to disconnect any external drives that aren’t part of the plan. You don’t want to accidentally wipe your backup drive instead of your old storage drive.
1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator:
- Click on the Start button.
- Type in cmd.
- Right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator. This will give you the permissions needed to wipe the drive.
2. Launch DiskPart:
- In the command prompt, type diskpart and hit Enter. This opens the Disk Partition tool that lets you manage your drives.
- List Multiple Drives: Type list disk and hit Enter. This will show all connected drives. Each drive will have a number listed next to it (like Disk 0, Disk 1, etc.). You’ll want to remember or write down which one is the drive you want to wipe.
3. Select the Correct Disk:
Type select disk X, replacing X with the number of the drive you want to wipe. (Double-check this!) You'll see a message confirming that the disk is selected.
4. Wipe the Drive:
Now, you can type clean and hit Enter. This command will erase everything on that selected drive, making it empty but still formatted as a partition. If you want to wipe it completely, including the partitioning information, you can use clean all, but remember, this takes longer because it writes zeros across the entire disk.
5. Confirm the Process:
After you run the clean command, make sure you see a message saying "DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk". This means you're good to go!
6. Exit DiskPart: Type exit to leave DiskPart once you’re done.
7. Format (if needed):
If you plan to use the drive again, you might want to format it. Type in format fs=ntfs quick (or format fs=exfat quick if you want it to be compatible with both Windows and Mac) and hit Enter.
Do you want to wipe a hard drive on Windows 10 computer? Are you serious? The downside is that if you mess up, like selecting the wrong disk, you might wipe something important. I’ve heard stories (and lived some) where folks accidentally wiped their main drive or a recovery partition because they weren’t paying attention to the disk numbers. Once you wipe a drive with the command prompt, recovering data is usually a no-go unless you’ve got super fancy software or services, which may cost you. So always, always back up first!
Wiping a hard drive using the command prompt in Windows 10 can definitely be effective, but there are a few disadvantages and risks you might want to think about. I’ve been down this road before, and while it can seem straightforward, there are some hiccups that you should be aware of. There’s the risk of wiping the wrong drive. It’s super easy to make a mistake, especially if you're dealing with multiple drives. You might feel confident when selecting a disk, but one tiny slip, and you could end up erasing your primary drive or a backup. Trust me, that’s not a fun situation to find yourself in. I learned that the hard way by not double-checking the drive number, and it felt like a major facepalm!
Also, since the method you’re using doesn't include any sophisticated data sanitization techniques, it’s important to know that if you wipe a drive and someone really wanted to recover that data, they might be able to with some advanced tools. This isn’t a problem if you just want to clear everything out quickly for a new user, but if you’re dealing with sensitive data, you might want to look into using dedicated software that overwrites the data more than once to ensure it’s unrecoverable.
