Diskpart

[AkSo2504]

Hi,

I am a bit confused about the clean, clean all and format commands in diskaprt. I have read different things about them.

What exactly is the difference? I guess clean just deletes the partition table because it only takes a few seconds.

[Slayerking92]

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/clean

 

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/format

 

[AkSo2504]

19 minutes ago, Slayerking92 said:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/clean

 

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/format

 

ok but i still dont know which one delets the data so you cant even recover it. Which one verwrites the whole disk with zeros?

[Slayerking92]

neither.

 

you would need to download a different tool to do that.

 

https://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-apps/five-hard-disk-cleaning-and-erasing-tools/

 

most SSD manufactures have their own tools for their drives.  Also some bios'  have a build in wipe tool as well.

[AkSo2504]

2 minutes ago, Slayerking92 said:

neither.

 

you would need to download a different tool to do that.

 

https://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-apps/five-hard-disk-cleaning-and-erasing-tools/

 

most SSD manufactures have their own tools for their drives.  Also some bios'  have a build in wipe tool as well.

ok so from what i have read now is that clean all is actually overwriting every sector with zeros

 

[cobalt77]

 

6 minutes ago, Slayerking92 said:

neither.

 

you would need to download a different tool to do that.

 

No not if it is a HDD (AkSo2504 has not said if it is a SSD or HDD), clean all command removes the partition or volume formatting from the disk and then zero the data on the disk. It is a chore to use as it takes a hour or more per 320 GB to overwrite.

[AkSo2504]

Just now, cobalt77 said:

 

 

No not if it is a HDD (AkSo2504 has not said if it is a SSD or HDD), clean all command removes the partition or volume formatting from the disk and then zero the data on the disk. It is a chore to use as it takes a hour or more per 320 GB to overwrite.

why does it make a difference if  its a ssd or hdd?

[cobalt77]

3 minutes ago, AkSo2504 said:

why does it make a difference if  its a ssd or hdd?

The nature of how they store data. Have a google if your interested.
If your after recommendations on erasing a ssd so that the data can not be recovered then there are better options than clean all (mainly it is so slow). As said by Slayerking92, drive manufactures normally have tools for their SSDs, that normally have a secure erase option, use it, they are so much quicker than clean all + side step the problems that could occur in zero filling a SSD. If that is not an option, encrypt the data on the drive, delete the contents of the drive, reformat the drive, loose the encryption key (which is actually the process that some drive manufactures secure erase use).