Diskpart Disk Cleanup

How to Format and Clean Up a Disk Completely Using Diskpart

Diskpart is a powerful command-line utility in Windows for managing disks and partitions. If you need to completely format and clean up a disk using Diskpart, follow these steps carefully, as these operations can result in data loss.

Warning: Be absolutely certain that you are selecting the correct disk because the data on the selected disk will be irrecoverably deleted. Double-check your commands before executing them.

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator:

• Press Win + X and choose “Command Prompt (Admin)” or “Windows PowerShell (Admin)” if you’re using Windows 10 or 11.

2. Launch Diskpart:

• In the Command Prompt window, type diskpart and press Enter. This will launch the Diskpart utility.

3. List Disks:

• Type the following command to display a list of all the disks on your computer. Identify the disk number that corresponds to the one you want to format and clean up:

  list disk
  

4. Select the Disk:

• Use the following command to select the disk you want to format and clean up. Replace “X” with the actual disk number:

  select disk X
  

5. Clean the Disk:

• Type the following command to remove all partitions and volumes on the selected disk:

  clean
  

6. Create a New Partition (Optional):

• If you want to create a new partition on the cleaned disk, you can use the following command:

  create partition primary
  

7. Format the Partition (Optional):

• If you created a new partition, you can format it with the following command. This example formats the partition as NTFS, but you can replace “ntfs” with “fat32” or other file systems if desired:

  format fs=ntfs quick
  

8. Assign a Drive Letter (Optional):

• If you want to assign a drive letter to the partition, use the following command to assign a specific drive letter (replace “X” with the desired letter):

  assign letter=X
  

9. Exit Diskpart:

• Type exit to exit the Diskpart utility.

10. Exit Command Prompt:

• Type exit again to close the Command Prompt.

Your selected disk should now be completely cleaned, and if you created a new partition, it will be formatted and assigned a drive letter. Be cautious and ensure that you are working on the correct disk to avoid accidental data loss.