Understanding DiskPart’s Clean and Clean All Commands
While managing storage devices on your Windows system, you often need a tool like Diskpart with powerful commands to wipe disks. Among these, the ‘clean’ and ‘clean all’ commands are important to sanitize a disk. Due to this understanding the differences is crucial for proper usage and effective disk management.
DiskPart ‘Clean’ Command
The Diskpart tool with the “clean” command removes partition or volume information. In effect, it removes the structures that define partitioning from a hard disk. This makes the data inaccessible, but the data sectors are not yet fully overwritten, allowing recovery of the information using specialized recovery software.
Steps to Use DiskPart ‘Clean’:
Click on the Windows key and ‘x’ and Choose ‘Command Prompt ‘ (Admin)’.
Open CMD as Administrator: Open the Command Prompt window and enter the diskpart command.
List Available Disks: Execute list disk command that lists all available disks.
Choose the Destination Disk: By typing select disk x, within quotes, select the corresponding disk.
On to the ‘Clean’ Command: Enable the Clean command and press the Enter button.
Once all is set, the drive will be unallocated and uninitialized and ready for including computer storage and formatting.
DiskPart ‘Clean All’ Command
After the ‘clean all’ command is enabled, it carries out or executes a secure erase with zeroes written in each and every sector, making sure that all information is deleted for good without any prospects for restoration. This kind of solution is necessary when damaged, disposal of or repurposing disks are holding secret data in the remanences.
Steps on How to Apply “Clean all” Using DiskPart:”
- Start Command Prompt as Administrator: Press the buttons WIN+X and choose the “Command Prompt (Admin)” option.
- Run DiskPart: Type diskpart and the Enter button.
- List Disks that are Available: Insert list disk command and all disks present in the system will appear.
- Set the Disk to work on: Type the command select disk X that is replacing the ‘X’ with the disk whose memory is to be plumbed.
- Execute the Clean-All Command: type ‘clean all’ and press Enter key.
This process can be time-consuming depending on the disk size especially large volumes. Here, the process is to write zeros to the entire disk surface. For more, you can check out steps on how to permanently delete files on PC.
How Long Diskpart ‘Clean All’ Command Takes?
The time it takes to complete the “clean all” command depends on the size and speed of the hard drive. For example, a 1TB hard drive could take several hours to complete. It is best to run the command on the hard disk when the disk is not used and is connected so that it is not interrupted when power is available.
How to Stop Diskpart ‘Clean All’ Process?
If you wish to stop the clean all operation before it is completely done, you can simply close the Command Prompt window, or else simply press Ctrl + C. Performing this, it would abort the whole process. However, this may corrupt the state of the disk, and you may restart the process of cleaning the disk from scratch or use other tools to initialize a disk before use.
Comparison Table on Diskpart Clean vs Clean All
| Feature | DiskPart Clean | DiskPart Clean All |
| Functionality | Creates partition and volume information unchanged but does not overwrite the disk |
Overwrites the entire disk with zeros therefore making recovery of information impossible
|
| Data Recovery | Some recovery software may recover data |
Permanently erased and thus not recoverable
|
| Time Required | Almost instant |
Several hours depending on the size of the disk
|
| Usage Scenario | Situation before old partitions are made or formatting is done but does not wish to wipe it |
Secure wipe before disposal, sale, or reuse it for other purposes, making sure no data leaks
|
| Impact on Disk | The command does not cause any actual erasing of the data rather it makes all allocated space of a disk unallocated |
Cleans the disk from data
|
| Command to Use | clean | clean all |
| How to Stop the Process? | No – since it completes almost instantly |
One has to use Ctrl + C to stop the process, sometimes which makes the disk work in an inconsistent way
|
Alternative to Diskpart Clean Function
While it is true that the command terminal has an inbuilt tool to clear disks, there exists an alternative way like SysTools data eraser tool with which such can be more effective. This program is created for professional use that will permanently wipe data from devices so that the rules of any data sanitization standard are maintained.
Application Key Functions are:
Many Purging Options: Enables the users to overwrite the data up to 10 times and use pass like DoD 5220.22-M, Gutmann, etc, that let the person secure his or her data at indigenous Levell.
Extensive reporting: Provides detailed reports of data-eliminating operations which are good for audit and compliance.
Supports All Media: It covers multiple types of drives such as hard drives, SSDs, thumb drives, as well as memory stick and more, for use with machines where it is needed.
Utilizing SysTools Data Wipe will require the following steps
Download and Install: Go to the official SysTools website and get the software there. Install it on your computer.
Start the Application: Start the software to get to the main screen. Next, select the File or Folder you want to erase.
Select the auxiliary disks and drivers: Choose the specific disposal method appropriate to the purge security level of the disk.
Evacuate the disk content: Press ‘Wipe‘ button to allow the software begin erasing files from the disk.
Remember this utility allows the user to wipe important data permanently and beyond recovery so that data can be recovered. On the other hand, make it effective for repurposing or disposing of storage devices.
Final Words
It is important to understand the difference between DiskPart’s ‘clean’ and ‘clean all’ commands if disk management and data security are to be done effectively. While ‘clean’ removes the partition information and leaves the rescued data, ‘clean all’ ensures complete data destruction by overwriting every single sector. On the other side, above mentioned application is one such tool that assures data sanitization beyond common means.