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How to Erase an SSD Windows 10 & 11? Find Here

  author
Written By Andrew Jackson
Anuraag Singh
Approved By Anuraag Singh
Published On November 26th, 2024
Reading Time 9 Minutes Reading

This article shall therefore highlight how to erase SSD with some of the good practices that you ought to follow in order to thoroughly clean your SSD so that none of your information is revealed to anyone due to anyhow negligence.

how do I clear my ssd

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Due to various reasons, users have to clear SSD data. However, most of them are not aware of the process. Therefore, this write-up will discuss the process of securely formatting SSD. Before that, we will learn what reasons may lead to the need to wipe Solid State Drives.

Table of Contents Hide

Why Do Users Have to Securely Wipe SSD Data

Solid State Drive is an alternative to traditional hard drives used for file storage. There are multiple reasons why an SSD has to be formatted. The main reason could be getting the error message Need to Format. If the SSD has become highly corrupt, the system will ask users to format the drive.

Apart from this, users have to wipe the SSD data for compliance issues. In cases of health and finance sectors, SSD drives have to be erased for security reasons after a particular time interval. Legal obligations can also force users to wipe their files locate in an SSD disk drive.

Warning: SSD is not a traditional Hard Disk Drive, and technically you should never have to format your SSD. So, before taking the decision to erase SSD data, make sure that you really have to do it. The Read-Write cycle of an SSD is limited, so it is better not to erase SSD unnecessarily to avoid degrading performance.

#1. How to Erase SSD in Windows 11 & 10? By Using Disk Management Tool

Users can take the help of a common manual technique to format their drive. Follow the instructional steps that we are going to add now to perform the SSD erasure.

Reset SSD For Windows 11

  • Right-click on the Windows Start button of your system and Search Disk Management.

disk management

  • open the Disk Management window.
  • Select your SSD disk from the list and right-click on it.
  • From the list of options, select Format.

select format

  • If you intend to use the drive exclusively on Windows operating systems, select NTFS.
  • In case you plan to use the drive with both Windows and Macintosh operating systems, select exFAT.
  • For drives that are less than 4GB in size otherwise when the device manual (for example a 3D printer) specifically states so select FAT.

erase ssd from disk management

erase ssd from disk management

perform quick format

Factory Reset SSD For Windows 10

computer management

open disk management

right click on it

format

performing quick format

#2. How to Wipe an SSD in Windows 10 & 11 – Using “Reset This PC” Feature

In this method, you will know how do i wipe my drive using this inbuilt feature to wipe your SSD drive:

Completely Erase SSD for Windows 10

  • Press “Windows + I” to Open the Settings.

Pressing WIndows Key + I to open the Setting on laptop

  • View to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery.

update and security

 

click on recovery

  • Here, you will find the section Reset This PC. Under this click on Get Started.

click on get started

  • After that, select Remove Everything to delete all your files and settings.

click on remove everything

click

change setting

toggle on clean

click on next

click on reset

Wipe SSD to New State For Windows 11

open setting

click on recovery

click on reset pc

click on remove everything

change setting

toggle on clean

click on next

click on reset

 

#3. How to Erase SSD in Windows 11/10? Using Diskpart Clean Command

This is the method in which you will be using the command prompt to wipe your SSD:

  •  By going on the Windows search bar, search for Command Prompt and Run it as Administrator.

open command prompt

  • Type “Diskpart” and press Enter.

diskpart

  • Now, type ‘list disk‘ and ‘Select disk X’ and (replace X with the number of your SSD)
  • Press Enter to see all your disks present there.

type listdisk

  • Now, type Clean and Press Enter.

type clean and press enter.

How to Clear SSD Drive in Windows? Benefits

  • When you permanently delete your files, it ensures that your sensitive data cannot be recovered.
  • Using the above manual methods, optimized for SSDs, ensures that the drive overall performance is not negatively impacted.
  • It helps to properly delete all your data to meet regulatory compliance like GDPR, HIPAA, etc.
  • It aims and focuses on protecting your data privacy and security to avoid daily scams and frauds.

How to Erase SSD to New State? Limitations

  • After following these manual methods, data is permanently erased. it is important to ensure that you have taken backup of your data before proceedings.
  • Also, some method may require technical knowledge to do the process.
  • It can also reduce the lifespan of an SSD, when you do frequent overwriting of data.

How to Wipe an SSD in Windows 11 & 10 – Using Professional Approach

Users who are simply looking for how to erase SSD drive. So, deleting your files or formatting an SSD is not be enough to securely wipe all your data. To, make sure that your data is irrecoverable, you can use a reliable tool like SysTools Data Wipe Software so that all your data is completely erased and is beyond recovery.

 

Features of Using this Automated Tool of How to Erase Solid State Drive

  • In 40 seconds, disappears an individual 1GB file using the complex shredder algorithm developed by Peter Gutmann.
  • Data removal utility is compatible with Microsoft Windows 11 (64-bit) and Windows 10 (both 64-bit and 32-bit) operating systems.
  • It generates data destruction reports after the completion of audit trails.
  • It complies with more than 20+ global standards including PCI DSS Compliance, ISO/IEC 27001 Compliance, SOX, GLBA, and many more.

How to Get Back Data from A Wiped SSD

Sometimes, users are forced to wipe all the data from the SSD and do not have any backup. If they want that how to erase an SSD drive to retrieve the files from a formatted SSD drive, they can take the help of SSD Drive Recovery Tool. In order to get back data from an erased SSD, use the Formatted Scan feature of this application. It will restore all the deleted files and allow users to save those files in any chosen location. This program is compatible with both m.2 and NVMe type SSD, so users of both types of SSD can run this utility.

Final Words

Different reasons give rise to situations when users encounter the requirement of erasing data from their SSDs. Since SSDs are different than HDDs, people feel confused about the process of formatting Solid State Drives. For this reason, how to erase an SSD drive is one of the most common queries found in tech forums these days.

In order to solve this problem, this post discussed the simple and easy manual method to perform this formatting. Users can follow these steps and successfully wipe the data from the SSD.

Also Read- Wipe SSD from BIOS?

  author

By Andrew Jackson

I am SQL DBA and SQL Server blogger too. I like to share about SQL Server and the problems related to it as well as their solution and also I do handle database related user queries, server or database maintenance, database management, etc. I love to share my knowledge with SQL Geeks.