how do i clear an old hard drive

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James Harless

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so i have an old 500gb wd blue hard drive that i want to completely wipe clean (remove windows and everything) from it. is there a way i can do that through my hot swap bay?
 
Solution
atheus
Yes, you can delete any partitions you want to while installing windows, although if you're using that as a D drive you'll need to manually format it to make it usable after you delete the partition. This can be done during the install as well.

The only caveat is that you want to make sure your system drive comes up as drive C, which you can accomplish by either installing windows with only the system drive physically installed, or by making sure that the system drive is on your lowest numbered SATA port.
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atheus

atheus

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Are you wiping it in order to reuse it yourself, or are you just trying to securely erase the data on it in order to dispose of it or give it away?

I think Acronis has a secure erase feature on it. Since you've got a WD drive, you can get a free copy from Western Digital.
http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119

If you're just erasing it to use for yourself, just install the drive, use disk management console, then delete all the partitions on the disk.
 
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James Harless

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I am just reusing it in my new build just as a temporary drive until i get a larger wd black drive.
 
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atheus

atheus

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If you're doing a clean install of windows, you can just delete the existing partitions while you're installing windows. In one of the first steps click on the "advanced" button, then you'll see the drive listed there along with a partition manager. Delete all the partitions, then install the the blank drive. You don't have to manually create any partitions before you install, as the installer will create any needed partitions.

look here: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/operatingsystems/ss/windows-7-clean-install-part-1.htm#step9

It's pretty much the same when installing windows 8 or 10 as well.
 
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James Harless

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Will this method work even if im not putting windows on this hard drive?


 
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atheus

atheus

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Yes, you can delete any partitions you want to while installing windows, although if you're using that as a D drive you'll need to manually format it to make it usable after you delete the partition. This can be done during the install as well.

The only caveat is that you want to make sure your system drive comes up as drive C, which you can accomplish by either installing windows with only the system drive physically installed, or by making sure that the system drive is on your lowest numbered SATA port.
 
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James Harless

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Thank you very much for the help :)
 
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