[SOLVED] Windows Format

[ZuluGapurtu]

In the Windows installation there’s an option to format. But there is also “delete”. If I click delete the format button turns unclickable. What exactly the Delete does? I see it turns the partition into unallocated space, but does it also formats? Or shall I format first then delete.

 

[kerberos_20]

delete means removing partitions, format means to format existing partitions
both will wipe data

 

[TerryLaze]

If you delete a partition it will automatically format it before installing windows to it.

 

[ZuluGapurtu]

So it’s pointless to click the Format? If Delete also formats? Shall I format rather and avoid deleting? or the opposite

 

[SkyNetRising]

If you delete a partition it will automatically format it before installing windows to it.

No. Delete doesn't format anything. It deletes a partition.
If you have no partition, then you can't format anything. You need a partition first.

 

[kerberos_20]

if you delete and just continue with installation, windows will create its own partitions (EFI and Recovery), format them and also give you one partition (formatted) for your own user needs (C:\)
if you have your own partitions you can format them (to make them empty) and if windows doesnt have enough space for its own partitions, it will notify you that windows cant be installed there (not enough space for its own partitions)

if you install windows on drive where are some data, and continue with installation, no format is used, old data will remain

 

[TerryLaze]

No. Delete doesn't format anything. It deletes a partition.
If you have no partition, then you can't format anything. You need a partition first.

I said before installing windows as in the installation will partition and format the disk to install windows because it wouldn't be able to otherwise.

 

[ZuluGapurtu]

So.. If I simply click Delete, without “Format” it is simply removes the partition to its unallocated space (Like it came from the manufacturer when I first bought it?)

And clicking Format before I Delete would basically change absolutely nothing?

Also if I Delete it also means it’s as clean as it came from the manufacturer with no possibility to recover data unlike formatting without deleting?

 

[SkyNetRising]

So.. If I simply click Delete, without “Format” it is simply removes the partition to its unallocated space (Like it came from the manufacturer when I first bought it?)

Yes.

And clicking Format before I Delete would basically change absolutely nothing?

Yes. Format before delete doesn't make any sense.
Format on SSD would probably consume some additional write cycles though.

Also if I Delete it also means it’s as clean as it came from the manufacturer with no possibility to recover data unlike formatting without deleting?

On SSDs data recovery is different than on mechanical HDDs.
After TRIM operation deleted data is basically unrecoverable.

 

[ZuluGapurtu]

it’s best I use Delete if I don’t have any intentions on recovering anything? To avoid write cycles? On Both hdd and ssd

 

[USAFRet]

it’s best I use Delete if I don’t have any intentions on recovering anything? To avoid write cycles?

Write cycles during a single "format" are a trivially small value.

But yes, Delete during a Windows install.

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[ZuluGapurtu]

Just to be sure, deleting partition clears up entirely the whole drive as brand new(makes it unallocated space) Or there still data left that possible to recover?

 

[USAFRet]

Just to be sure, deleting partition clears up entirely the whole drive as brand new(makes it unallocated space) Or there still data left that possible to recover?

Deleting ALL partitions cleans up everything, short of NSA level forensics.

 

[TerryLaze]

Just to be sure, deleting partition clears up entirely the whole drive as brand new(makes it unallocated space) Or there still data left that possible to recover?

Deleting ALL partitions cleans up everything, short of NSA level forensics.

Deleting a partition only deletes the reference to that partition and not the data on it, deleting all the data on a partition takes hours depending on the size of it while deleting takes just a few seconds.

 

[ZuluGapurtu]

Really? But it does seem to wipe up everything, it is simply “unallocated space”. That’s in Windows installation.

Also what does delete volume do, before I can delete partition in disk management?

 

[USAFRet]

Deleting a partition only deletes the reference to that partition and not the data on it, deleting all the data on a partition takes hours depending on the size of it while deleting takes just a few seconds.

True.
But recovering any previous data from parition delete and then a reinstall of the OS....problematic, trending towards impossible.

 

[TerryLaze]

Really? But it does seem to wipe up everything, it is simply “unallocated space”. That’s in Windows installation.

Also what does delete volume do, before I can delete partition in disk management?

Deleting a partition is like ripping out the index pages of a book, all the data is still there but the Os just has no idea where anything is because the index is empty.

True.
But recovering any previous data from parition delete and then a reinstall of the OS....problematic, trending towards impossible.

Re installing the OS takes like 60Gb including page files and the likes, if you had more data than that or if data was beyond that point it is very easily recovered because it doesn't get over written with anything.
Anything that does get written over even partially is lost.

 

[kerberos_20]

partition delete or partition format, it doesnt remove any data, it just clears drive header which stores where are files (data) located on drive, so any operating system will show drive as empty
old data on HDD will all be still there, but it will be slowly overwritten once you start writing some new data
if you plan to format old HDD and sell it like this, all data can be recovered
in case of SSD its a bit different, SSD requires to have empty cells to have best performance, so once you format/delete partition, TRIM will activate (its not instant process, but it happens in background without user notice - drive controller takes care of this) which rewrites any deleted data into empty space to keep SSD performance at its max
you can also secure erase/sanitize SSD on your own to wipe it to get max performance (all drive cells gets overwritten into zero about 3-5times, so dont do that repeatedly as it can shorthen drivespan if you wanan do that on weekly basis lol)

 

[TerryLaze]

partition delete or partition format, it doesnt remove any data, it just clears drive header which stores where are files (data) located on drive, so any operating system will show drive as empty
old data on HDD will all be still there

That goes for quick format, full format will write to all sectors of a disk and will make it very difficult to recover anything.

 

[kerberos_20]

That goes for quick format, full format will write to all sectors of a disk and will make it very difficult to recover anything.

already mentioned it above, full format is drive scan for bad sectors + quick format
okay i think i missed this one, seems like it does write zeroes during full format
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/tr...torage/format-command-not-write-zeros-to-disk