Basic Data deletion

[Snoo_92728]

Hi, I've probably tried factory resetting windows 7 times by now but all I want is to completely wipe both my SSD and Hard drive and leave ONLY a completely fresh windows 10 setup with no remnant whatsoever of any previous files and settings. Every single fucking time I've reset windows there's always something left on my drives. Is there anyway to do exactly what I want?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just get a windows 10 install usb, then delete all the parttions in the installer.

[RadiatingLight]

Seconding @Electronics Wizardy all you need is Windows 10 bootable media (plug in a USB stick with nothing important on it since everything will be wiped, and run this tool  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 where it says "download tool now")

 

Then boot from the USB stick, click custom setup, and when it asks you where to install windows, delete EVERY PARTITION YOU SEE. At the end, you should be left with only two places to install windows, probably called "Drive 1 Free Space" and "Drive 2 Free Space" -- using the difference in capacity you can probably tell the difference between your SSD and HDD, so pick the right drive, and then you're golden!

[Snoo_92728]

10 minutes ago, RadiatingLight said:

Seconding @Electronics Wizardy all you need is Windows 10 bootable media (plug in a USB stick with nothing important on it since everything will be wiped, and run this tool  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 where it says "download tool now")

 

Then boot from the USB stick, click custom setup, and when it asks you where to install windows, delete EVERY PARTITION YOU SEE. At the end, you should be left with only two places to install windows, probably called "Drive 1 Free Space" and "Drive 2 Free Space" -- using the difference in capacity you can probably tell the difference between your SSD and HDD, so pick the right drive, and then you're golden!

 Do I just plug the USB into my PC which already has windows on it? also I had an issue where the default drive selected would be my SSD when I originally chose to load windows onto it. I didn't want my SSD being used for anything other than windows and every file I downloaded would go to it. is there a way to only load windows onto my SSD and have every other file/app/document I download go to my hard drive automatically?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Snoo_92728 said:

 Do I just plug the USB into my PC which already has windows on it? also I had an issue where the default drive selected would be my SSD when I originally chose to load windows onto it. I didn't want my SSD being used for anything other than windows and every file I downloaded would go to it. is there a way to only load windows onto my SSD and have every other file/app/document I download go to my hard drive automatically?

yep, just plug the usb in. You cn select the boot drive in the bios. 

 

You can chanage settings in windows where programs will go, but normally you wanat programs on your ssd so they load quickly, same with small documents and downloads.

[Snoo_92728]

I'm really new to pc's so, how do I select the boot drive in bios? Do I just shut my PC off, plug in the USB and, then start it up? also one of the people who responded to my original comment said "Then boot from the USB stick, click custom setup, and when it asks you where to install windows, delete EVERY PARTITION YOU SEE. At the end, you should be left with only two places to install windows."

Idk what a partition is and how to delete them at all, any ideas on how to do this?

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Snoo_92728 said:

I'm really new to pc's so, how do I select the boot drive in bios? Do I just shut my PC off, plug in the USB and, then start it up? also one of the people who responded to my original comment said "Then boot from the USB stick, click custom setup, and when it asks you where to install windows, delete EVERY PARTITION YOU SEE. At the end, you should be left with only two places to install windows."

Idk what a partition is and how to delete them at all, any ideas on how to do this?

your motherboard has a key(normally f12 or f8) that will show a menu of what  device to boot from. Select your usb stick.

 

Its normally best to unlug your hdd, so only the ssd is plugged in.

 

It will list the parttions on the drive in the installer, and give a otpion to delte this, its all in the installer.

[Snoo_92728]

9 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

your motherboard has a key(normally f12 or f8) that will show a menu of what  device to boot from. Select your usb stick.

 

Its normally best to unlug your hdd, so only the ssd is plugged in.

 

It will list the parttions on the drive in the installer, and give a otpion to delte this, its all in the installer.

so I press f8 or f12 once I plug in the USB on startup?

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Snoo_92728 said:

so I press f8 or f12 once I plug in the USB on startup?

yup, look at your manual to know the key to press.

[Snoo_92728]

{closed}

[TylerDurden!]

When you go to install windows off of your usb just select all of the different partitions (the page where it asks you where you want to install windows), delete the partitions, then format the drives from there, then install windows "preferably" on the SSD

[Snoo_92728]

2 minutes ago, TylerDurden! said:

When you go to install windows off of your usb just select all of the different partitions (the page where it asks you where you want to install windows), delete the partitions, then format the drives from there, then install windows "preferably" on the SSD

I have no idea what formatting a drive or a drive partition is, also Since I already have windows installed how do I boot from the USB?

[Streetguru]

31 minutes ago, Snoo_92728 said:

This is a last resort but all i want to do is delete every single file from both my SSD and Hard drive and get a fresh windows copy up. I've factory reset my fucking PC 100 times by now and there's always some setting or file that didn't get deleted. I've heard the best way to achieve what I want is by booting up to a new copy of windows and somehow deleting everything from some menu. Does anyone know if doing what I want is actually even possible and how to do it? I got a bootable copy of windows on a USB but I have no clue in hell how to boot up to it If I have to.

You can just zero the drive with boot and nuke or something, but why?

[Snoo_92728]

Could someone give me a step by step guide in decently simple terms (since I suck at using windows) on how to wipe both my HDD and SSD completely alongside with installing a new copy of windows to my SSD. I ran into a problem a while ago when first setting up my PC where the SSD got selected as the default drive and from then on everything would Automatically download to it when I only wanted windows on it so if you know how to stop that from happening that would also be really good. (I don't really have a need to run complicated programs that will make retrieving the data on my HDD and SSD after it's deleted impossible, but I just want them both to be 100% wiped clean with no residing windows files or anything else.)

[Spotty]

Threads merged. Don't keep reposting the same thread then editing the old one.

[Snoo_92728]

1 minute ago, Spotty said:

Threads merged. Don't keep reposting the same thread then editing the old one.

What? I keep doing research on what I'm trying to do and then I make a new thread because what I'm trying to do changes.

[TylerDurden!]

this whole thread is fubar

[Spotty]

3 minutes ago, Snoo_92728 said:

What? I keep doing research on what I'm trying to do and then I make a new thread because what I'm trying to do changes.

All three posts you made were asking the same question: How to wipe a drive and reinstall windows. 

 

Since you aren't concerned about making the files irrecoverable...

 

Download the windows 10 creation tool from the Microsoft website and follow the instructions to create a bootable USB drive.

Turn the computer off and on and follow the prompt on the BIOS screen to enter the boot menu (probably press F10)

Boot to the windows 10 USB drive you made earlier.

Select the drive you want to be the boot drive (your SSD)

Follow the prompts and format the drive and it will delete the old files on the drive and install a new copy of windows.

Then input your windows 10 licence or log in to your windows account to activate windows

You'll now have a clean version of windows and the old files on that drive will be gone.

 

If you want to clean the HDD as well then from windows open the windows menu and type disk management

Select the drive you want to clean (the HDD)

Right click it and select format

Follow the prompts

You'll now have a fresh windows install and an empty HDD.

 

23 minutes ago, Snoo_92728 said:

when first setting up my PC where the SSD got selected as the default drive and from then on everything would Automatically download to it when I only wanted windows on it so if you know how to stop that from happening that would also be really good.

Windows default download location is in the users download folder, which is by default located on C drive.

You should be able to right click the downloads library folder to open the properties and change the folder location.

 

You can also usually change the default download location in each program from the program settings.