Installing a fresh WIndows 10 on a second hand Samsung SM951 M.2 SSD

[BladePocok]

Hi,

I managed to buy a second hand Samsung SM951 M.2 SSD,which was used only for a couple of weeks. The previous owner did not tell me,if it was filled with data or not.

My plan is to install a fresh new Windows 10 Pro via USB stick ,using this guide. At that part,when I should choose Drive0 (my SSD),it probably will not say that this is an unallocated space,because I am 100% sure that it is filled with some files .

My real question is: during this period,what shall I choose?

a) As in the video,choose New and let the Windows installer do his job?
b) Or shall I choose Format? Some says that Formating a SSD is not a good idea,especially before an installation.

Any good tip would be nice!

Thank you.

 

[Colif]

Take any other hdd/ssd out of pc before you start or windows may choose wrongly.

Do a clean install and win 10 will want you to delete anything on drive anyway. See http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1950-windows-10-clean-install.html
you don't need to format drive before installing, it is part of the process.

 

[USAFRet]

"b)" those people are wrong. Formatting an SSD is no problem. Just don't do it 5 or 10 times a day, for a couple of years.

 

[Colif]

"b)" those people are wrong. Formatting an SSD is no problem. Just don't do it 5 or 10 times a day, for a couple of years.

Unless you work for one of those labs trying to see what real life expectancy is of modern SSD

 

[BladePocok]

Hm,bit confusing... I still can`t choose,based on these answers. So a clean install,via USB stick deletes everything anyway,but (some says) I still need to choose Formating at first,seperately. So now what?

 

[USAFRet]

Hm,bit confusing... I still can`t choose,based on these answers. So a clean install,via USB stick deletes everything,but (some says) I still need to choose Formating at first,alone.

It depends on what is on the drive now.
If there is 'stuff' on it, then during the installation, when it asks where, then you select each partition. Delete it.
Leaving one large space.
Create a single partition.
Let Windows format that and create what it needs.

 

[BladePocok]

I cant be sure,if there is any important stuff on it,especially for me. Like I said,the previous owner only used it for a couple of weeks( normal usage,maybe some drive tests through individual programs that I can still redownload if necessary).

 

[USAFRet]

I cant be sure,if there is any important stuff on it,especially for me. Like I said,the previous owner only used it for a couple of weeks( normal usage,maybe some drive tests through individual programs that I can still redownload if necessary).

Then you need to kill off any existing partitions on it, and start fresh.

 

[Colif]

if you want to see what is on the drive,m try using this as it will let you look without installing anything on drive first: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/use-ubuntu-live-cd-to-backup-files-from-your-dead-windows-computer/

 

[BladePocok]

Thank you so much!