How to Format HDD After Cloning Windows 10 to SSD
If you’ve recently cloned your old hard drive to a new SSD and then are having trouble formatting your old drive, or if you just don’t know what to do, this guide will show you how to make sure you boot from your SSD and how to correctly format your old drive.
Cannot format hard drive after Windows 10 was cloned to SSD
This guide is also intended for users who have difficulty formatting an old hard drive after cloning it to a new SSD. A common problem is that when you try to format an old hard drive, the system gives you an error message that there is Windows or an operating system on the drive and therefore it cannot be formatted.
If you get the same error message when trying to format your old hard drive, you may be booting from the wrong drive. If you always boot from the hard drive, Windows will definitely not let you format the drive because you are still using it.
If you are sure you are already booting from an SSD, it may be because disk management in Windows 10 has too many restrictions and is too sensitive to prevent you from deleting the system drive.
There are two solutions to this problem: First of all, you need to make sure that you are actually booting from an SSD and not your old hard drive.
Alternatively, after you are sure that you are booting from your SSD and that it is working properly, you can use another formatting method such as the diskpart command or a partition management program to format your old hard drive.
To ensure that you boot from a newly clonedSSD
The best way to ensure that your computer will boot from an SSD is to temporarily unplug the power or data cable from the drive to prevent it from booting.
If that fails, try booting the SSD through the BIOS boot selection interface. To display the BIOS boot menu, find the appropriate key during the boot process, this may be F10, F2, F12, F1 or LED depending on the motherboard manufacturer.
Select SSD from the boot menu to boot from.
Once you are sure that your computer will only work properly on your newly cloned SSD, you can proceed to format your hard drive with the diskpart command or a free program called Partition Wizard.
Formatting a hard drive after cloning Windows 10 on an SSD
If you otherwise have problems formatting the disc, try the following method.
- Open the command prompt by searching for CMD in the Windows 10 search bar, right-clicking on the command prompt and selecting Run as Administrator.
- Type diskpart and press Enter. diskpart.
- Then type the disc in the list and press the Enter key. This will list all the drives in your PC.list drive.
- Type Select Disk #, replace # with the number of the disk you want to format and erase, and then press Enter.Select Disk #.
- Type clean or clean all and press the Enter key to start the clean process. clean.
- Erase – Quickly erase as only the data on the disk is marked as erased.
- Erase All – Slows down the process while erasing data from the disk.
If you read the line indicating that DiskPark has successfully cleaned the disk, it means that the cleaning process has been successfully completed.
You can then initialize the disk, convert it to MBR or GPT and create a new volume on it. Here’s how.
First, open Disk Management using the search function in the Windows 10 search bar.
Right-click on the disk labeled Uninitialized (if you see multiple unallocated disks, select the disk with the unallocated space that matches the size of your hard disk) and then select Initialize Disk.
After you initialize the disk, right-click the disk again and select New Single Volume to create a new volume on the disk.
Select a drive letter. Once this is done, you can see the player in this PC Explorer.
Formatting a hard drive with partition management software
If you prefer to do it with a program, you can try the free version of Partition Wizard. You can find the software at partitionwizard.com. The Partition Wizard allows you to easily format any hard drive by initializing partitions on it and creating new volumes.
Description to share: You can’t format your hard drive after cloning to an SSD? Here’s how to make sure you boot from an SSD, and how to properly format your old hard drive.
frequently asked questions
Can I format my hard drive to an SSD after cloning?
What should I do after cloning my hard drive onto an SSD?
Guide 2021|How to boot an SSD after cloning – EaseUS
How do I format my old hard drive after installing an SSD?
Right-click on these two partitions on D : & E : Volumes (in Disk Management) and click to remove. Then right-click and format the document. The fast format is the easiest and most popular.
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