Trying to Format My Drives

[Jmackeroni]

I currently have one SSD installed that runs my OS and a few other applications. I also have a 1TB Hard Drive that I keep things such as games, pictures, and videos on. I was interested on how to format both these drives so I can start fresh on them. I know windows comes with a feature to format drives which would help with my 1TB Hard Drive, but not the SSD due to the OS being on there. I have heard of third party software that you can download to a flash drive and boot off of, but I heard that isn't good for an SSD. Just looking for some feed back on what I should do.

[wONKEyeYEs]

8 minutes ago, Jmackeroni said:

how to format both these drives so I can start fresh on them.

When you do a fresh install of Windows you get to a window that allows you to delete partitions, format, and create partitions.

You can delete all partitions on both drives at this point so that you are left with two drives with one unformatted area each.

You could format the second drive and create a partition at this time if you wish.

Just leave the OS drive blank and unformatted and install on it.

Windows will create any needed partitions and format them automatically before installing.

 

[Jmackeroni]

2 minutes ago, wONKEyeYEs said:

When you do a fresh install of Windows you get to a window that allows you to delete partitions, format, and create partitions.

You can delete all partitions on both drives at this point so that you are left with two drives with one unformatted area each.

You could format the second drive and create a partition at this time if you wish.

Just leave the OS drive blank and unformatted and install on it.

Windows will create any needed partitions and format them automatically before installing.

 

How exactly would I go about doing a fresh install of Windows, do I just turn off my pc and boot with a flashdrive that has windows on it and then follow your steps, or is there some steps I would need to take before hand?

[Mira Yurizaki]

11 minutes ago, Jmackeroni said:

How exactly would I go about doing a fresh install of Windows, do I just turn off my pc and boot with a flashdrive that has windows on it and then follow your steps, or is there some steps I would need to take before hand?

Yeah, pretty much. I recommend using Microsoft's Media Creation Tool to create the bootable flash drive.

 

When you reinstall Windows, delete the existing partitions. Since the Windows installer likes to create multiple partitions for system reliability, only choose the SSD from there and use Disk Manager in Windows to setup the hard drive.

[wONKEyeYEs]

13 minutes ago, Jmackeroni said:

fresh install of Windows

Use the Media Creation Tool to prepare your USB stick and boot to it.

You might have to go into CMOS to change to the USB for boot.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10

[Jmackeroni]

Thank you to for helping me out guys, I really appreciate it.