How to Reset Your Hard Drive: The Complete Guide

Updated by

Tracy King 

Updated on April 22, 2024

Applies to: Reset SATA hard drive, reset hard drive in Windows 10/8/7, reset PS4 hard drive, reset HDD/SSD, and more.

How do you reset a hard drive to get the full storage space for new data? Can you reset a hard drive for PS4? How do you erase all data and reset the hard drive for selling?

On this page, I will group all these requirements into three types of hard drive reset tutorial guides. If you need help to get your hard drive back to its original state, follow me. This is the complete guide.

Page content:

1. Reset the hard drive to full storage space - for saving new files
2. Reset the hard drive to blank and unallocated status - for re-partitioning the disk
3. Restore the hard drive to its original state - for preparing it for sale

Prerequisite: Back up your files before resetting your hard drive

Note that resetting a hard drive will delete all files and data saved to it. Regardless of your goal – saving new data, repartitioning the drive, or selling it – you should back up the disk ahead of time.

How to backup hard drive files? Here's a simple guide:

Step 1. Connect an empty external hard drive to your computer and make sure it has enough free space.

Step 2: Open the drive you want to reset and copy all important files to an external hard drive.

Repeat this process until you've transferred all of your important data to the external hard drive.

If you prefer a one-off file backup plan, you can turn to file backup software like Todo Backup.

After backing up all your important files, you can now reset the disk yourself.

#1. Reset the hard drive to full storage space – to save new files

Strive to achieve: Resize hard drive to full size and fix hard drive shows wrong capacity issue.

If you just want to restore the entire hard drive's storage capacity, you can format the hard drive through Windows Disk Management to reset it directly. Here is the full process:

Step 1: Right-click on "This PC" and select "Manage."

Click "Manage" to open Disk Management.

Click “Disk Management” to open it in the Device Manager window.

Step 3. Right-click the target hard drive partition and select “Format” to reset it.

Reset the hard drive in "Disk Management"

Step 4: Follow the on-screen prompts to select your disk label, file system, and check the box for "Quick Format."

Click “OK” to begin formatting and resetting the drive.

#2. Reset the hard drive to blank and unallocated - for repartitioning the disk

Repartition and reformat the hard disk drive to manage disk space, or reformat it for use with your PlayStation 4 system

To repartition a hard drive or reset one for a game console like a PS4, you might need to format the disk as unallocated and create a new partition on it.

To do this, you need to go through two processes. Here, a reliable disk partition manager software like tools Partition Master and its "Delete All" and "New Disk Wizard" features can come in handy.

1. Reset hard drive to unallocated space with one click - Remove all partitions.

< strong > Step 1. < /strong > Launch AOMEI Partition Assistant, and then click "Partition Management".

Before deleting any partitions on the disk, make sure you have backed up important data.

Step 2: Choose to delete a partition on the hard drive or delete all partitions.

• Delete a single partition: Right-click the partition you want to delete and select "Delete."
• Delete all partitions: Right-click the hard drive from which you want to delete all partitions and select "Delete All."

Step 3: Click OK to confirm the removal.

Step 4: Click Run xx Task, and then click Apply to save the changes.

0:00 - 0:26 Remove a single volume; 0:27 - 0:53 Remove all partitions.

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2nd. Resize disk partitions with just one click to make room for the new

If you need a smart wizard to repartition your hard drive, try the "New Disk Wizard" in the tool "Partition Master." With just one click, you can repartition your hard drive:

Step 1: Launch Partition Master, enter “Manage Partition” and then click “Partition this hard disk” in the popped up “New Disk Wizard” window.

< strong > Step 2. < /strong> Specify the number of partitions you want to create and select the partitioning style for your disk - MBR or GPT.

Alternatively, you can accept the default settings offered by the “Partition Wizard.” When you're finished, click “Continue.”

Click “Execute 1 Task” and “Apply” to partition the new HDD/SSD or external drive.

Note: If you only want to create a game partition, such as for a PS4, follow this guide instead.

#3. Reset the Hard Drive to its Original State – For Selling

How it works: Completely wipe the hard drive, set it back to factory settings with no data and no partitions.

Note that deleting or formatting a partition will remove existing data, but it may still be recoverable. If you want to wipe the drive and return it to its original state, 100% clean with no partitions at all, try this trick.

A partitioning tool with a wiping feature, such as Partition Master, can help.

The Wipe feature in the tool can completely erase all data and partitions on the disk, making your private information irretrievable.

We have two options for erasing your data. Please choose the one you need.

Option 1: Erase the partition

• Right-click the partition you want to erase data from, and select "Erase."
• In the new window, set the time you want to erase the partition, then click "OK."
• Click the "Execute 1 Task" button in the bottom-right corner, review your changes, and click "Apply."

Option 2: Erase the disk

1. Select the HDD/SSD, then right-click and choose "Erase Disk." 2. Set the number of passes to wipe the data. (The maximum is 10.) Click "OK." 3. Click "Execute 1 Task," then click "Apply."

Resetting your hard drive isn't complicated, and you can have it back to factory conditions in no time with the steps below.

On this page, we provide three methods to reset your hard drive based on different needs:

• To restore it to its full size for new files, you can format it.
• To repartition or reallocate the disk space, you can delete all partitions on it.
• To reset the hard drive to its original state with zero bytes of data, you can erase it.

Please note that before attempting any of these methods, back up all important files to an external hard drive. Otherwise, you risk losing data.