**How to Clean, Partition, and Format a Drive Using DiskPart in Command Prompt (Step-by-Step Guide)**

 Open Command Prompt as Administrator: Click Start, type "cmd", right-click "Command Prompt" and select Run as administrator.

Open DiskPart:

Type

- diskpart

and press Enter.

List Disks:

Type

- list disk

and press Enter to see all connected drives. Identify the correct disk number based on size (e.g., Disk 1, Disk 2).

Select Disk:

Type

- select disk # (replace # with your disk number, e.g., select disk 2)

and press Enter.

Warning: Choosing the wrong disk may result in data loss on your system drive.

Clean the Disk:

Type

- clean

and press Enter. This removes all partition tables and hidden sectors.

Note: Using clean all will securely overwrite all data with zeros, taking much longer.

Create Partition:

Type

- create partition primary

and press Enter to make the disk usable.

Format the Partition:

Type

- format fs=ntfs quick (for Windows)

or

- format fs=fat32 quick

and press Enter.

Assign Drive Letter:

Type

- assign

to allow Windows to recognize and show the drive in File Explorer.

Exit:

Type

- exit

to close DiskPart,

and

- exit

again to close Command Prompt.

 

Essential Tips and Commands

Verifying Selection: Always verify the disk number and size to ensure you do not wipe the wrong drive.

Write-Protected Drives: If the disk is write-protected, use attributes disk clear readonly after selecting the disk to unlock it.

File System Choice: Use ntfs for large drives (over 32GB) or fat32 for compatibility with older devices/consoles.

Failed Clean: If a clean command fails, it might be due to a used volume;

you may need to use

list volume

and

- select volume #

followed by

- delete volume

before cleaning the disk.