[SOLVED] Advice on wiping hard drive

[csfortytwo]

Hello everyone I have an SSD and and HDD installed on my pc and I am pretty sure it has been giving me problems. I would like to reset it and remove it but I am a novice at basically all computer stuff and I don't know how to wipe it and I have no idea how it would affect all my programs and stuff I have no idea what is downloaded on my hdd vs my ssd so should I just wipe everything? Anyways any thoughts/comments are appreciated!

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

I would like to reset it and remove it...and I don't know how to wipe it

which is the OS drive?

whichever isn't;
you should be able to open Disk Manager,
delete all partitions,
format the drive and have a freshly wiped & cleaned storage disk.

then unplug the SATA data cable from that storage drive

and run a fresh Windows install on the OS drive:

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

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after Windows is installed
re-plug the SATA data cable to your storage drive and you should be good to go with a fresh OS installation
and a clean storage drive.

I have no idea how it would affect all my programs and stuff

to wipe the storage drive and install a fresh Windows package on your OS drive
you will be deleting all of your current files,
removing all of your installed programs and drivers,
and removing any customization you have done within Windows.

you will be back at a default Windows state
where you will need to reinstall everything regarding any system\component drivers and any software you regularly use.

 

[csfortytwo]

which is the OS drive?

whichever isn't;
you should be able to open Disk Manager,
delete all partitions,
format the drive and have a freshly wiped & cleaned storage disk.

then unplug the SATA data cable from that storage drive

and run a fresh Windows install on the OS drive:

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

after Windows is installed
re-plug the SATA data cable to your storage drive and you should be good to go with a fresh OS installation
and a clean storage drive.


to wipe the storage drive and install a fresh Windows package on your OS drive
you will be deleting all of your current files,
removing all of your installed programs and drivers,
and removing any customization you have done within Windows.

you will be back at a default Windows state
where you will need to reinstall everything regarding any system\component drivers and any software you regularly use.

Do I need to do the fresh install of windows or is that optional?

 

[Karadjgne]

Depends on which is giving you issues, and which is the OS drive. If OS is on Sata and it's the hdd that needs wiping, then you don't need a new windows. If OS is on the hdd and you want to wipe the Sata, same thing. But it's better to have the OS on the Sata drive, it's much faster, so move anything you want to keep to the hdd, format the Sata, unplug the hdd data cable and use a USB with windows installer to put a fresh copy of windows on the Sata drive. When that's done, plug the hdd back in, reboot to bios, set the Sata as first boot, and in windows move all your saved stuff back to Sata, then format the hdd.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

HDD installed on my pc and I am pretty sure it has been giving me problems

you think the HDD has been giving you problems? like what?
what do you use the disk for?
if you have no idea what's on the disk, what is the point of it? is it just a pre-built system that came with a secondary HDD?

I would like to reset it and remove it

to remove it, just shutdown the computer and unplug the drive.
to "reset" it, would be the same instructions i gave previously about wiping the drive.

I have no idea what is downloaded on my hdd vs my ssd

than just look at what's on the drive and see.
open File Explorer and browse through the drive's contents.