Trying to reformat old boot drive

Running Win10 1909 64 bit. I replaced my old 1TB HDD with a 1TB SSD. I'd like to format the old 1TB HDD and use it to replace my 640GB HDD "D" drive. So, I plugged in the old HDD and booted. Came up with a bluescreen that asked said I needed to go back to change the BIOS. The computer (Dell XPS78700) BIOS will only allow a few changes. So how do I format the old HDD? I have a recovery thumb drive.

Thanks,
Marco

You say you have replaced your old 1TB HDD with a 1TB SSD so, assuming that you are now using the 1TB SSD as your system drive and you can boot up from it: -

Put the old HDD in an external caddy. Example: - ORICO 2.5 Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool-free External Hard: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics . When you plug it into one of your computer USB ports it will show up as another drive. You can the format it by right-clicking on the drive letter then selecting "format" from the sub-menu. Job done.

Ztruker said:

You should also be able to do it without the caddy by removing the SSD and reinstalling the HDD. Boot A Windows 10 Home X64 install USB (any Windows 10 install USB actually). At the first window, press Shift+F10 to get to a command prompt.

Enter diskpart
list disk
select disk # (where # is the disk number of the 1TB HDD)
Enter clean (this will wipe the disk of all partitions)
enter format fs=ntfs quick (to do a quick format of the 1Tb HDD)
exit
exit
shutdown/power off

Install the SSD in the lower SATA port # and the HDD in a higher port #.
Power up.

That should do it.

The HDD needs a partition on it to format. You erase all partitions on the drive with the clean command, therefore the format command following clean will fail.

Code:

diskpart
list disk
select disk # <-replace # with the actual disk # for the HDD
clean
convert gpt
create part pri
format fs=ntfs quick
exit
exit

Also, if you do this from a Windows 10 installation USB flash drive, there is no need to disconnect the SSD first. Just make sure to select the proper disk # from the list of disks.

Also2, the convert gpt command is not really required. A 1 TB drive can be either mbr or gpt. >2 TB drives need to be GPT. But converting a data drive to gpt won't hurt anything.

Did you cloned the HDD into the SSD?
If you cloned, when you attached the 1T HDD you may have two drives (the SSD and the HDD) with same ID and BIOS doesn't know witch one to boot.

The solution NavyLCDR proposed should work.

Megahertz said:

Did you cloned the HDD into the SSD?
If you cloned, when you attached the 1T HDD you may have two drives (the SSD and the HDD) with same ID and BIOS doesn't know witch one to boot.

The solution NavyLCDR proposed should work.

Yes, I did.

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wiganken said:

You say you have replaced your old 1TB HDD with a 1TB SSD so, assuming that you are now using the 1TB SSD as your system drive and you can boot up from it: -

Put the old HDD in an external caddy. Example: - ORICO 2.5 Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool-free External Hard: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics . When you plug it into one of your computer USB ports it will show up as another drive. You can the format it by right-clicking on the drive letter then selecting "format" from the sub-menu. Job done.

Problem the old 1TB is a 3.5" HDD!

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NavyLCDR said:

The HDD needs a partition on it to format. You erase all partitions on the drive with the clean command, therefore the format command following clean will fail.

Code:

diskpart
list disk
select disk # <-replace # with the actual disk # for the HDD
clean
convert gpt
create part pri
format fs=ntfs quick
exit
exit

Also, if you do this from a Windows 10 installation USB flash drive, there is no need to disconnect the SSD first. Just make sure to select the proper disk # from the list of disks.

Also2, the convert gpt command is not really required. A 1 TB drive can be either mbr or gpt. >2 TB drives need to be GPT. But converting a data drive to gpt won't hurt anything.

Sounds like the plan! I'll give it a try. I just don't want to wipe my SSD!!!

Ztruker said:

Thanks @NavyLCDR, forgot the create par pri.



Which is why I said disconnect it first, safer. Necessary no, safer, yes.

Missed that!! That'll be my first step after I shut the computer off for the install of the old drive.

I tried to set up a boot thumb drive , but I kept getting errors. The thumb drive is a Sandisk 16GB extreme. Now, it can be formatted ONLY FAT32 and NOT NTFS, according to Sandisk. Win10 won't let me create a DVD recovery disk.

I tried deleting some of the windows files but apparently my own computer won't let me. Also, cortana isn't working!

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Thumb drive is a 32GB Sandisk. Same results with a 16GB Sanbdisk. ERRRG!

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Figured out I needed the ms media creator. Last command, format fs=ntfs quick doesn’t seem to be doing much-it’s sitting at “0 percent complete.” The disk active led is flashing. Waiting, always waiting.

marcozandrini said:

I tried to set up a boot thumb drive , but I kept getting errors. The thumb drive is a Sandisk 16GB extreme. Now, it can be formatted ONLY FAT32 and NOT NTFS, according to Sandisk. Win10 won't let me create a DVD recovery disk.

I tried deleting some of the windows files but apparently my own computer won't let me. Also, cortana isn't working!

- - - Updated - - -

Thumb drive is a 32GB Sandisk. Same results with a 16GB Sanbdisk. ERRRG!

- - - Updated - - -



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Figured out I needed the ms media creator. Last command, format fs=ntfs quick doesn’t seem to be doing much-it’s sitting at “0 percent complete.” The disk active led is flashing. Waiting, always waiting.

Command Prompt (Admin)

Code:

fdisk 
list disk
select disk # <-replace # with the actual number for the flash drive. 
clean <- this will erase the drive selected above.  Make sure it is the flash drive! 
create part pri
active
format fs=ntfs quick
assign
exit
exit