How Do I Use DiskPart to Delete All Partitions in Windows? Your 2021 Guide Is Here

Can I delete all partitions on SSD at one time in Windows 10? Is there a free tool that can completely remove all partitions and wipe a drive at one time? Yes, Windows built-in disk utility tool - DiskPart can fulfill the task.

Here this guide will assist you in cleaning up a drive for free using DiskPart. Here, besides deleting volumes, you'll also learn more command lines of creating, extending, formatting volumes with this utility. Let's start.

Delete All Partitions Using DiskPart - How-to Guide

There are two commands in DiskPart that can be used to delete all partitions on a Windows computer. And each command is designed for different purposes that are listed here:

DiskPart Clean Command - Delete all partitions at one time, quickly clean a drive data. but deleted partitions and data are recoverable.

DiskPart Clean All Command - Delete all partitions and wipe hard drive at one time, erase and reset the hard drive. So deleted partitions and data are permanently erased, unrecoverable.

So how to use these two command lines? Let's start.

Before you start, remember to open disk management and confirm the number of your target disk on which you want to remove all partitions:

Right-click Windows icon > Disk Management > Disk number.

Notice:

Diskpart clean and clean all command will delete all partitions, removing all saved data from your disk. Before you start, make sure that you back up all essential data in advance.

#1. Delete All Partitions Using DiskPart Clean Command - Clean Disk

Step 1. Press Windows + R keys to open the search menu, type cmd, right-click Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator.

Step 2. Click Yes to let Windows run Command Prompt in Admin right.

Step 3. Type diskpart and hit Enter.

Step 4. Type the following command lines one by one and hit Enter each time:

list disk
select disk # (Replace # with the number of your target disk.)
clean

Step 5. Type exit to close the DiskPart command window when the cleaning process completes.

Now, you may see that your disk is showing unallocated in the disk management.

#2. Delete All Partitions Using Diskpart Clean All Command

Also works to: wipe a hard drive, reset the hard drive.

Step 1. Open DiskPart by pressing Windows + R keys, type cmd, and right-click Command Prompt.

Click Run as Administrator > Type diskpart and hit Enter.

Step 2. Click Yes to allow DiskPart to run on Windows as Admin.

Step 3. Type the following command lines and hit Enter each time:

list disk
select disk # (Replace # with the number of you want to wipe.)
clean all

Step 4. When the process completes, type exit to close the DiskPart window.

Now your drive is reset as a new disk. All your data are gone.

Two DiskPart Alternatives to Delete All Partitions on a Hard Drive

According to some Windows beginners, it's a bit complex for them to use DiskPart command lines in managing hard drives. Here, we included two DiskPart alternative tools that are even easier and more efficient in deleting all partitions on your disks.

#1. Using Third-party Partition Manager Software

When you Google partition manager software online, at least hundreds of disk managing software and utilities are showing up in the searching result. To most Windows users, executing an operation deleting all partitions on a drive in only a few clicks will be perfect.

Qiling partition manager software - Partition Master with its Delete All feature can help.

Free Download

Step 1. Launch Qiling Partition Master on your computer. Which partition do you want to delete? Select a partition that you want to delete and click "Delete" in the "Disk management" page.

Make sure that you've backed up the important data on the selected partition because this manner will compeletely erase data there.

Step 2. Click "Proceed" to confirm the deletion.

#2. Using Disk Management

The other tool that Windows beginners think is easy to use in deleting partitions in Disk Management. It's free to delete all partitions. The only shortcoming of this tool is that you cannot delete all partitions are one time.

The operating process needs to be repeated several times. Here is how to delete all partitions on your drive:

Step 1. Right-click the Windows icon and select Disk Management.

Step 2. On the target disk, right-click a partition and select Delete Volume.

Step 3. Select Yes to remove the selected volume.

Step 4. Repeat the process to delete all partitions on the target disk.

What Is the Fastest Way to Remove All Partitions from a Drive

DiskPart is a command interpreter that helps Windows users to manage computer disk drives. It works equally as third-party partition manager software and disk management in managing hard drives in these aspects:

Create new volume
Extend partition
Format volumes
Clean drive by deleting one partition or delete all partitions, etc.

But which is the fastest way to remove all partitions on a disk? Here we tested these three methods on a 2TB hard drive with 4 volumes, and here is the result that you may be interested in:

Comparison	DiskPart: Clean Command	Disk Management: Delete Volume	Qiling Partition Master: Delete All
Steps to Delete All Partitions	At least 5 steps.	More than 5 steps.	2 steps.
Duration	45s	40s	15s
Pros	Free Delete all volumes at one time.	Free	Easy to use. Supports deleting the OS drive with a bootable disk.
Suitable users	Experienced & professional users.	Beginners.	All levels of users.

According to the table, it'd clear that all three tools work to delete volumes on a computer, and Qiling Partition Master with its Delete All feature is the easiest solution to clean a disk. Also, if you intend to clean an OS drive, Qilikng Partition Master is the best option.

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DiskPart Delete Command FAQs

We offered a complete guide to help you delete all partitions using DiskPart command lines on Windows hard drives, SSD, and even external storage disks. If you have more questions, go and check the answers here below.

1. Can I Stop DiskPart Clean All?

No, you can't stop or pause the DiskPart clean all command once you hit the Enter key.

Even if you closed the DiskPart command windows, the operating system will continue executing the command in the background. All your partitions will be removed.

Therefore, we suggest that you execute the operation with cautiousness as it will permanently remove all your partitions and data, making them unrecoverable in an unstoppable procedure.

2. How Do I Delete a Partition Using Diskpart?

To DiskPart delete a volume, be sure that you have backed up useful files to an external disk before executing the following operations:

Step 1. Press Windows + R keys, type cmd, right-click Command Prompt, and select Run as Administrator.

Step 2. Type the following command lines one by one and hit Enter each time:

diskpart
list disk
selected disk #(Replace # with the disk number of your target disk.)
list partition
select partition #(Replace # with the partition number of your target drive.)
delete partition

Step 3. Type exit to close DiskPart.

3. How to Delete All Primary Partitions on Windows 10 from Diskpart

Step 1. Right-click Windows icon > Select disk management > Check all primary partition numbers on your target disk.

Step 2. Open DiskPart and type the following command lines one by one and hit Enter each time:

diskpart
list disk
selected disk #
list partition
select partition #
delete partition

Repeat to select and delete all primary partitions on your PC.

Step 3. Type exit to close DiskPart.

4. Hot Diskpart Commands

As mentioned, DiskPart is a hot disk utility that experienced Windows users would use to manage partitions. Here are some hot DiskPart commands that you can apply to set or make changes to your hard drives:

Use DiskPart to Format Device:

list disk
selected disk #
list volume
select volume #
format fs=ntfs quick or format fs=fat32 quick

Use DiskPart to Create Partition:

list disk
selected disk #
create partition primary
format fs=ntfs
assign

Use DiskPart to Extend Partition:

list disk
selected disk #
list volume
select volume #
extend size =number (Normally, the default size unit is MB.)

5. How Do I Delete All Partitions and Format My Hard Drive

Step 1. Open DiskPart.

Step 2. Type the following command lines and hit Enter each time:

list disk
selected disk #
clean
create partition primary
format fs=ntfs
assign

Step 3. Repeat the process to complete creating more partitions on a hard drive.

Step 4. Type exit to close DiskPart.

6. Use sfdisk to Delete All Partitions in Linux

Step 1. Open terminal on Linux computer.

Step 2. Type the following command lines one by one and press Enter each time:

sudo su
fdisk-l
fdisk /dev /sdx (replace x with your target drive letter.)
d
1 (replace 1 with the partition number.)
d

Step 3. Repeat the process to delete more partitions in Linux.