Forum Discussion

Obaileyy's avatar
Obaileyy
Copper Contributor
Feb 24, 2026

How can I wipe an ssd but keep Windows os installed on it?

The old SSD on my laptop is to small (256 GB) and I am going to replace it with a new SSD 1 TB.  Is there any safe way to wipe an SSD while keeping the operating system intact. The goal is to remove ...
Karl-WE's avatar
Karl-WE
MVP
Mar 01, 2026

Here's my approach and suggestion:

Install Macrium reflect free on your current OS

Create an image to an external device

Easier: get an external case for SSD /NVMe attached through USB C (usually available for USB-A or C or both up to USB 3.2 speed). 

With an external case you can clone the 256GB to the 1TB drive. 

Without an external case you would need to backup and restore after changing. + creating a bootable USB pen drive (Macrium Rescue media). 

To safely delete the disk use the BIOS firmware function. Many are offering this feature for both internal NVMe or SSD. It's done in seconds. If you don't have that feature, after the Macrium Backup, you can go use Windows PC Reset keep nothing, secure delete option. 

You should not leverage the script that is using sdelete removing folders in c:\users

Deleting user profile folders is not a good idea because all the references for the NT profile manager remain stale in the Windows registry and it's quite a burden to get rid of these manually.