Formatting SSD That Contains Windows OS

Question

Hi all,

I have a question regarding my PC running Windows 11. I just finished college and want to do a full wipe of my computer. My computer has an SSD and a regular HDD. Throughout college, I attempted to download and store all of my documents, photos, etc. on my HDD, while keeping my SSD as clean as possible. Unfortunately, some items ended up on my SSD, and I've decided I want to completely wipe both my HDD and SSD and essentially "start over" with my computer. I already sifted through all of my files on both the SSD and HDD, and saved everything I found important to a USB removable disk.

Earlier today, I followed instructions found on the internet and fully formatted my HDD using Disk Management. As recommended by that same webpage, I unplugged my HDD from my machine following the formatting process (the author recommended to unplug the HDD so I do not get it mixed up with my SSD when doing a reset). Now, only my SSD is plugged in, and that is what my PC is running on.

My question is in regards to my SSD; I understand my Windows 11 OS is stored on my SSD, and I am wondering if there is a way to fully format my SSD, and essentially transform it to an entirely blank state (similar to how an SSD would be if I purchased it directly from a manufacturer without any pre-downloaded software). Consequently, I followed an additional set of instructions I stumbled upon, and created a Windows Key using a removable USB disk (a separate disk from which I saved my HDD files on), but I have not found any answer or instructions on how to fully format my SSD if Windows 11 is currently stored on said SSD (or if it is even possible).

Thank you in advance for all replies; I really appreciate the time and effort!

Answer 1

If you're maintaing your own PC and want to start fresh you can clean install Windows 11 or 10 using a bootable Media Creation Tool (MCT) (Windows iso).

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Boot to the MCT > highlight then delete each partition > create an unallocated disk drive > clean install Windows

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https://www.elevenforum.com/t/download-official-windows-11-iso-file-from-microsoft.1009/

https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows11

https://www.elevenforum.com/t/clean-install-windows-11.99/

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--please don't forget to upvote and Accept as answer if the reply is helpful--

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Answer 2

The term format and reformat are controversial terms as per this Wikipedia link.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_formatting

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If you were selling the computer with its drive see:

Recovery of data from a formatted disk.

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For the clean install:

a) the partitions will be manually deleted

b) the clean install process creates new partitions by formatting and creating new file systems:

(for BIOS UEFI the drive will be GPT with four default partitions)

(the system partition will be FAT32 and the other partitions will be NTFS)

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If you want a cleaner drive then there are pro and con.

A secure erase will write 0 or 1 to every sector (pro) and create more ware (con).

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/96205-format-disk-drive-windows-10-a.html

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/85819-erase-disk-using-diskpart-clean-command-windows-10-a.html

Answer 3

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