Wiping a drive with Windows on it

[isokami]

Bought a new PC with Windows already on its drive. Had an SSD from a previous PC with Windows also on it. I was wondering how I would go about wiping the SSD so that I could use it purely for storage on my new PC. 

[isokami]

Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

10 minutes ago, isokami said:

Bought a new PC with Windows already on its drive. Had an SSD from a previous PC with Windows also on it. I was wondering how I would go about wiping the SSD so that I could use it purely for storage on my new PC. 

Before proceeding, it'll be best to disconnect the drive you want to keep Windows on. 

 

Boot into the Windows installer and proceed to the part where you are asked where to install Windows. From there, you can delete all the partitions on the SSD you want to wipe. Afterwards, just cancel the installation.

 

 

You can also do this via the Command prompt within the installer using DiskPart. Open the Command Prompt in the installer by hitting Shift + F10. Then type Diskpart and hit enter. Once open, type list disk to identify which disk number your SSD is given based on the size. Type select disk X where X is the disk number. For example, my 850 EVO is a 250GB model and so I'll type select disk 1 and hit enter. Once selected, type clean and hit enter. This will remove all partitions from the drive. If you want to do a secure wipe, you can use clean all, take note clean all will take a while longer as it overwrites the entire drive with 0s.

 

Once done you can again quit the installer. Shutdown the machine and reattach your Windows drive. Once booted back into Windows, create a new partition on the drive in Disk Management and assign it a drive letter. 

 

 

I find it easier to do this in the installer as if you're booted into Windows, it generally does not like deleting partitions it recognizes as Windows installations. Even if it's another installation. 

[tkitch]

@BlueChinchillaEatingDorito nothing you said is wrong, but you went waay overboard for what he needed.

 

Here's what you do:

1) Install the old SSD into the new PC.

2) Go into the BIOS and make sure the new SSD is still your boot device.

 

3) Boot into the new windows on the new drive.

 

4) open "Disk Management"

5) Delete all the partitions that are on your old ssd.  (The new ssd is the one with the C: Drive)

6) Once everything on the old drive is gone, make a new partition, make sure it gets a drive letter, and you're done.

 

(If there are any partitions on the old drive it won't let you delete?  Blue Chinchilla's DiskPart thing will let you get rid of those.) 

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

3 minutes ago, tkitch said:

@BlueChinchillaEatingDorito nothing you said is wrong, but you went waay overboard for what he needed.

 

Here's what you do:

1) Install the old SSD into the new PC.

2) Go into the BIOS and make sure the new SSD is still your boot device.

 

3) Boot into the new windows on the new drive.

 

4) open "Disk Management"

5) Delete all the partitions that are on your old ssd.  (The new ssd is the one with the C: Drive)

6) Once everything on the old drive is gone, make a new partition, make sure it gets a drive letter, and you're done.

 

(If there are any partitions on the old drive it won't let you delete?  Blue Chinchilla's DiskPart thing will let you get rid of those.) 

The reason I usually go the installer route is like I said, Windows tends to refuse to wipe any partitions it thinks is a Windows installation. It's hit or miss. There's been times when Windows says no problem. Other times Windows just sits there like

[Fasauceome]

16 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

The reason I usually go the installer route is like I said, Windows tends to refuse to wipe any partitions it thinks is a Windows installation. It's hit or miss

Generally this works for me, I hope @isokami can use these steps:

1) open CMD as administrator
2) type "diskpart" in CMD

3) type "list disk"

4) select the disk that you want

5) type "list partition"

6) select each partition one by one and use "delete partition override"

 

that should completely get rid of any and all formatted sections on the drive, even protected windows partitions. When doing this, make absolute certain that you have selected the correct drive. (although, I think you cannot delete a partition that's actively in use by the system, so I think it will put the brakes on when/if you try to delete the current windows install that's running)

[kokosnh]

If you want to delete all data on that SSD, the best way is to just secure erase it from samsung magician.

as that will do the least possible wear on the SSD, and revert all NAND cells to default state, so factory speeds. 
 

then windows should instruct you, to initiate it ( do GPT ), and then do a partition on it, ( NTFS ), with some mounting letter assigned. 

[isokami]

Thank you all for your help! It is greatly appreciated