AOMEI Partition Assistant
What Command Can Be Used to Totally Wipe A Hard Drive Clean, Including The Partitioning System in Windows?
What command can be used to totally wipe a hard drive clean including the partitioning system? If you want to thoroughly clean a hard disk with system on it, you can keep reading this post and have a try.
By Lucas / Updated on December 23, 2024
Why do users choose to wipe hard drive even a system disk?
To prevent the loss of personal information, many users deleted data or formatted their hard drives before selling or disposing of their laptops. Furthermore, some users prefer to wipe a system-installed hard disk for:
Preparing for Resale or Disposal: When users plan to sell disk, give away, or dispose of their old hard drive, wiping the hard drive ensures that none of their data remains accessible.
Reinstalling or Reformatting the Operating System: Users may wipe the system disk to perform a clean installation of a new operating system. This can help resolve software issues, improve system performance, or remove unwanted files and settings that have accumulated over time.
Virus or Malware Infection: In cases of severe virus or malware infections, wiping the hard drive and reinstalling the operating system is a way to ensure that malicious software is completely removed.
Corrupted Operating System: If the operating system becomes corrupt or unbootable, wiping the hard drive might be necessary to restore functionality by reinstalling the OS from scratch.
Performance Improvement: Over time, operating systems and applications accumulate junk files, temporary data, and fragmented files, which can slow down a system. Wiping the drive and reinstalling the OS can help restore peak performance.
Starting Fresh: Sometimes, users simply want a fresh start without the clutter of old files, applications, or settings. Wiping the system disk allows them to set up the computer from scratch, like it’s brand new.
What command can be used to totally wipe a hard drive clean including the partitioning system?
To wipe a hard drive on a Windows computer, there are different solutions to do it. Command Prompt is a command-line interface (CLI) in Windows operating systems that allows users to execute text-based commands. It provides a way to interact with the operating system without using the graphical user interface (GUI). Users type commands followed by optional parameters or switches, and the system executes them.
Thus, some users may wonder what command can be used to totally wipe a hard drive clean including the partitioning system.
Well, if you are trying to wipe the system disk (the one with the OS installed), you cannot wipe the disk from within the operating system while it's running. You would typically need to boot from an external media (e.g., Windows installation disk, recovery disk, or a bootable USB drive) and run diskpart from there.
Guide to using command to wipe system hard drive on Windows PC
If you have bootable external media, now, let’s see how to use CMD to clean hard drive.
1. Preparation
▶ A Windows installation disk or a bootable USB drive with the Windows installation files.
▶ A system that can boot from external media (make sure your BIOS/UEFI settings allow booting from a USB or DVD drive).
2. Steps to wipe the system disk using CMD
Step 1. Insert your Windows installation disk into the CD/DVD drive or plug in your bootable USB drive. And boot from the installation media.
Step 2. As the computer restarts, you need to enter the boot menu, usually by pressing a key like F12, ESC, or DEL during startup — it varies by manufacturer.
Step 3. Select your installation media (DVD or USB drive) as the boot device.
Step 4. Once the system boots from the installation media, you'll see the Windows Setup screen. Select your language preferences and click Next.
Step 5. On the Windows Setup screen, don't click "Install now." Instead, click Repair your computer in the bottom left corner.
Step 6. In the Choose an option screen, select Troubleshoot. Then select Advanced options. Click on Command Prompt. This will open the Command Prompt window, where you can enter the necessary commands to wipe the disk.
Step 7. Type the following command to open the disk partition tool, and press Enter after each command line:
- diskpart
- list disk
- select disk 0 (Replace 0 with the number of the disk you want to wipe)
- clean all
- exit
Tips:
1. You will see a list of all available disks on your computer. Identify the system disk (usually Disk 0) — make sure you're targeting the correct disk, as this process will erase all data on the selected disk.
2. The Clean command will remove all partitions and data from the selected disk, making it unallocated. This step effectively wipes the system disk but doesn't securely erase the data. For a more thorough wipe, you can use the “Clean all” command, which overwrites every sector with zeroes.
After wiping the system disk, you can proceed to install Windows again. From the Windows Setup screen, click Install Now and follow the instructions to reinstall a fresh copy of Windows on the now empty disk.
How to easily clean a system disk on a Windows computer
You could be worried that you might lose vital data if you enter the incorrect instructions or choose the other partitions unintentionally after reading the Command line methods on how to fully wipe a computer hard drive.
Here you could apply AOMEI Partition Assistant. A few clicks will safely wipe your computer's hard disk using a straightforward and inviting interface. There is the Server edition for Windows Server 2025/2022/2019/2016 and this useful application works well on all versions including Windows 11/10/8/7. You can also use it to wipe hard drives with any file system or partition size.
100% SecureTo wipe the system hard drive, you will be asked to restart into PreOS mode, or you can make a bootable device and do the clean in Windows PE mode.
Step 1. Launch AOMEI Partition Assistant, click the system hard drive, and choose “Wipe Hard Drive” on the right pane.
Step 2. Choose a wiping method to wipe the selected hard drive according to your requirements and click "OK".
Step 3. And it will send a note that your PC won’t start the next time if this system hard drive is deleted. Confirm the operation and click “Yes”.
Step 4. Click "Apply" in the toolbar to execute the operation.
Conclusion
Now you know what command can be used to totally wipe a hard drive clean including the partitioning system. "Clean"/ "Clean all" comand will clean data on the target disk, so make sure you've backed up imortant data. AOMEI Partition Assistant allows you directly wipe system hard drive without bootable media if you need. Also, due to different work methods between hard drive and SSD, if you want to wipe a system SSD, you can go to "SSD Secure Erase" function to clean your SSD without hurting the disk.
