How to Format a HDD

[Aidan Hartline]

So I am About to sell my Computer to get some money to help with my new build. So I wanted to Wipe my HDD and that way I can have a fresh Hard Drive on my New System. But How can I do this Safely? I am Selling everything but the HDD and also Windows 10 (Also I have Windows 10 on a Disk). So when I wipe my HDD, can I just Reinstall Windows again and get the Full Version? or do i have to Contact Microsoft to get this done?

[emosun]

If you're not getting rid of it then i think you can just drop it as is into the new machine

[Aidan Hartline]

Just now, emosun said:

If you're not getting rid of it then i think you can just drop it as is into the new machine

My Current System Dosen't have a SSD, and I wanted to Have a Clean Install of Windows on the New SSD I have for my New Build.

[JustAStrangeGeek]

To wipe  drive:

 

Head into 'Disk Management', locate your drive and right click on each partition and left click 'delete volume'.

 

To format the HDD for use:

 

right click on the unallocated drive and left click on 'New Simple Volume' format the drive in MBR or GPT, both wont affect the drive performance, only the reliability (GPT is plain better than MBR. If any of your data on a GPT drive gets corrupted, GPT will attempt to fix the issue, MBR will most likely not even notice the corrupted data). Quick format the drive.

 

To install Windows on SSD:

 

Follow all Windows installation steps provided with your boxed version of Windows (if owned),, and yes you will need to put in the key.

[Aidan Hartline]

Just now, JustAStrangeGeek said:

and yes you will need to put in the key.

Do I need to Contact Microsoft to Deactivate the Key so I can Reactivate it?

[JustAStrangeGeek]

you shouldnt need to, just wipe the drive. I did the same with my system, although I used Samsung data migration which copies all files on you HDD and puts them on the SSD. I wiped the drive the exact same as mentioned above and windows is still activated.