Windows 10 includes a large number of graphical tools for all kinds of configurations on PC components. However, there are still advanced tasks that are only available through the cmd command window. Today we explain how to use Diskpart to clean and format a hard drive .
Windows 10 Disk Manager is a very complete and advanced graphical tool, but it lacks some functions that are integrated in Diskpart. This is a command tool to manage hard drives in a very advanced way . You may need to use an option that you will not find in the graphical tool. Diskpart is included in all versions from Windows XP
If your PC is malfunctioning and you think the hard drive may be the culprit, you can try to fix the problem using Diskpart. It is also valid for memory cards or pen drives that do not work correctly.
Diskpart allows you to clean the entire partition table of your hard drive to eliminate errors
The first step will be to obtain a list of all our storage units. For this we will run a cmd window as administrator from the start menu.
Once the command window has opened, we type “ diskpart ” (without quotes) and press the Enter key. This will start the Diskpart application.
Now we need to obtain the list of all connected storage units, so we can identify the one that fails. To do this we use the "command list disk " (without quotes).
Diskpart will return a list with all the connected units . You can identify the one you want to repair by its total capacity and / or available space. In this case we are going to act on a 64 GB pendrive. We see that it is identified as "Disc 3". It is important that you make sure that you have correctly identified the drive, because if you make a mistake you can delete a lot of important data.
Once you have made sure that you have correctly identified your drive, you must select it with the command " select disk # ", changing the # symbol to the number of the drive.
In this case it is select disk 3
Now that you have the correct hard drive selected, make sure once again that you are not wrong. To clean all the data on the drive you must use the " clean " command . This will delete the entire partition table. Note that this will delete all data on the drive.
Now your hard drive is totally clean. To create new partitions you can use the helpful Windows 10 Disk Manager . This graphical tool is very easy to use.
Once you have opened it, you will see how your hard drive appears without any assigned partition .
To create a new partition, right click on the drive and select " New Simple Volume ".
This will start a small wizard that will guide you through the entire process of creating the new partition on the hard drive. It is something very simple, however we leave you a gallery of images so that you do not get lost at any time.
After a few seconds, you will see that your hard drive already appears with an active partition and drive letter , which means that it is ready to use again.
This is it, your hard drive should already work without problems. If you've made it this far and it still isn't working well, it is very likely that it has suffered irreparable damage.