How do i wipe a hdd clean?

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RedHaze1911

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Aug 10, 2015
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So i just finished building my new pc and im installing windows 10 on it and i added this old hdd for extra space from my old pc but it has windows 10 preview build on it and the whole filebase from the previous pc. So im asking how to wipe the old OS and all the stuff on it? Do i just format it or do i have to do something else? will it mess with my pc since im installing the new windows 10 on an ssd but the hdd has the preview windows on it so basically two copys of windows....

Any advice would be apreciated :)
 
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Hey there, RedHaze1911!

I'd recommend you to install Windows 10 onto your SSD first, but make sure you unplug the HDD from the SATA ports on the motherboard. If you have two storage drives connected, you could experience an OS confusion which could potentially cause you a lot of booting/system issues, that would require you to re-install the OS later on again.
So once you have Windows 10 up and running on your SSD, plug back your HDD and go to Disk Management as @greens suggested. From there you'd be able to wipe the drive and partition it if you're into it. Here's a tutorial from our kb that can walk you through the procedure if you need assistance: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=j0Czot

Hope it helps you. Good luck with...
Yo!
open up your start menu search and t ype
Computer Management
Go to
Storage
Disk Management

Here you can Initialize and Format HDD without any additional tools or software.
Reformatting would essentially erase everything and be fine for your purposes. It is no different than the way you format a disk from My Computer.
You can also delete all of the volumes, and create a single new volume without formatting. Initializing the disk in this manner, without formatting the drive is also a desirable option. There are a lot of other options here to, link shrinking, extending, the option to delete various reserved partitions, etc.
 
Hey there, RedHaze1911!

I'd recommend you to install Windows 10 onto your SSD first, but make sure you unplug the HDD from the SATA ports on the motherboard. If you have two storage drives connected, you could experience an OS confusion which could potentially cause you a lot of booting/system issues, that would require you to re-install the OS later on again.
So once you have Windows 10 up and running on your SSD, plug back your HDD and go to Disk Management as @greens suggested. From there you'd be able to wipe the drive and partition it if you're into it. Here's a tutorial from our kb that can walk you through the procedure if you need assistance: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=j0Czot

Hope it helps you. Good luck with your new rig! :)
SuperSoph_WD
 
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