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Un-partition a laptop HDD?

Burz
By Burz
in Storage Devices
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I want to wipe this Lenovo WD Scorpio Blue and have its partitions and stuff removed. Anyone got a detailed guide for a software noob?

 

I am pretty sure from what I found here

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/unpartition-hard-drive-54094.html

That I have to just right click each partition in the manager and press "Remove volume" but I don't want to mess it up.

 

The quicker the reply, the quicker I can get to clean it up and be able to connect my actual HDD back on my PC lol :P

"Anything that could one day be is as real as what I'm saying
If something is nothing it must not be something in any possible way"

-John Frusciante

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3 minutes ago, Burz said:

That I have to just right click each partition in the manager and press "Remove volume" but I don't want to mess it up.

That's right. After that create new partitions and format them.

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Once you remove both partitions it will be just a raw unformatted HDD you can then setup the way you want through Disk Management. Just make sure you have everything in the HDD you need before erasing it all.

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1 minute ago, Naeaes said:

That's right. After that create new partitions and format them.

 

Just now, daDILLYdog said:

Once you remove both partitions it will be just a raw unformatted HDD you can then setup the way you want through Disk Management. Just make sure you have everything in the HDD you need before erasing it all.

 

MKArQJd.jpg

"Anything that could one day be is as real as what I'm saying
If something is nothing it must not be something in any possible way"

-John Frusciante

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Yep, you may also be able to just delete 1 part and resize the other to the full volume 

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Here is a second issue. It has a recovery partition... OEM stuff that I don't know about.

I suppose I can't delete that one. But what do I do with the unallocated space I got? Create a single volume with all the space left and bam?

 

"Anything that could one day be is as real as what I'm saying
If something is nothing it must not be something in any possible way"

-John Frusciante

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8 hours ago, Burz said:

~snip~

Hey there Burz :)

 

It would really depend if you want the data wiped completely off the drive or to simply reuse the drive as a new one. 


Deleting the partitions and performing a quick format would erase the partition table of the drive, rendering the data of it invisible to the system and the new one would simply be written over the old one. 


If you want to truly wipe the drive clean you would need to fill it with zeros. This will place a 0 in each sector, wiping the drive from all data on it. You can do that with WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic. Checking the drive's health with this tool is also a good idea since it will be reused. 

 

Cheers!

 

Captain_WD.

If this helped you, like and choose it as best answer - you might help someone else with the same issue. ^_^
WDC Representative, http://www.wdc.com/ 

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1 hour ago, Captain_WD said:

Hey there Burz :)

 

It would really depend if you want the data wiped completely off the drive or to simply reuse the drive as a new one. 


Deleting the partitions and performing a quick format would erase the partition table of the drive, rendering the data of it invisible to the system and the new one would simply be written over the old one. 


If you want to truly wipe the drive clean you would need to fill it with zeros. This will place a 0 in each sector, wiping the drive from all data on it. You can do that with WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic. Checking the drive's health with this tool is also a good idea since it will be reused. 

 

Cheers!

 

Captain_WD.

Hey, I actually am gonna use it on a PC that I might or might not sell, so I will look into it if I have the time. Otherwise, it's no big deal. As long as it can be overwritten I have no trouble with the data "Being there" :) Thank you

"Anything that could one day be is as real as what I'm saying
If something is nothing it must not be something in any possible way"

-John Frusciante

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1 hour ago, Burz said:

~snip~

Well, it's always a good idea to erase the data off a HDD before selling it so nobody else can recover it so in case of selling the drive I would recommend filling it with zeros. 

 

If not, the OS installer offers you to manage, format and delete the already existing partitions on that drive so you can delete them from there instead of doing this separately (If you are putting a OS on that drive). If not - Disk Management is your friend. :)

 

Captain_WD.

If this helped you, like and choose it as best answer - you might help someone else with the same issue. ^_^
WDC Representative, http://www.wdc.com/ 

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On 4/15/2016 at 9:20 AM, Captain_WD said:

Well, it's always a good idea to erase the data off a HDD before selling it so nobody else can recover it so in case of selling the drive I would recommend filling it with zeros. 

 

If not, the OS installer offers you to manage, format and delete the already existing partitions on that drive so you can delete them from there instead of doing this separately (If you are putting a OS on that drive). If not - Disk Management is your friend. :)

 

Captain_WD.

 

Hey, I was gonna sell it to a friend, but the zero fill is not really needed. The data I had was nothing private or illegal lol. If they want access to it, they will find memes, music and games pretty much.

 

Anyway, thank you for your help :)

"Anything that could one day be is as real as what I'm saying
If something is nothing it must not be something in any possible way"

-John Frusciante

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On 16.04.2016 г. at 7:48 PM, Burz said:

~snip~

Oh, in that case a Quick Format that takes a couple of seconds should do the work. :) You are most welcome! Feel free to ask if there's anything else!

 

Captain_WD.

If this helped you, like and choose it as best answer - you might help someone else with the same issue. ^_^
WDC Representative, http://www.wdc.com/ 

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