Some users may fail to run the clean command in the DiskPart utility when trying to use it to clear an external hard drive, USB drive, or SD card. In order to help you out, we have sorted out fix fixes in this guide on
MiniTool Website
.
Diskpart Clean Not Working
DiskPart is an inbuilt command-line hard drive partitioning program in Windows. It allows you to partition internal or external hard drives and format removable storage devices like USB drives. The Clean command is one of its commands that can remove any and all partitions or volume formats from the drive.
Sometimes, some of you may encounter DiskPart Clean not working when trying to use this command to erase your external drive. In this condition, you are likely to receive the following error messages:
DiskPart Clean access is denied.
DiskPart Clean device is not ready.
DiskPart has encountered an I/O device error.
DiskPart has encountered an error: the media is write-protected.
DiskPart has encountered an error: Data error <cyclic redundancy check>.
As per the different types of error messages that you may meet, we will show you the corresponding fixes respectively for you.
How To Fix DiskPart Clean Not Working on Windows 10/11?
Fix 1: Reconnect Your Target Drive to Your PC
When the external hard drive, USB drive, or SD card is not connected properly to your computer, it will lead to Diskpart not working with the
Device not ready
error on Windows 11/10/8. As a result, you can consider reconnecting your external hard drive, USB drive, or SD card.
Step 1. Unplug the USB drive or SD card from your PC. As for a hard drive, reinstall it via a power cable and a SATA cable.
Step 2. Reconnect the device to your computer.
Step 3. Log in to your computer as an administrator.
If you still cannot load the Clean command in DiskPart, please move to the next solution.
Make sure that your disk is not write-protected or occupied by other programs, or else it will also trigger Diskpart Clean not working on your Windows PC. To do so, you can follow the guidelines below:
Preparation: Check If the Drive is Locked or Occupied
Step 1. Connect the target device to your computer.
Step 2. Press
Win
+
E
altogether to launch
File Explorer
.
Step 3. Go to
This PC
and turn on your device under
Devices and drives
to check whether the data on it is accessible or not.
You may receive two error messages:
the media is write-protected
or
Data error <cyclic redundancy check>
. The former means that the device is write-protected and the latter indicates that it is being occupied by a running program or file without your knowledge.
If you do receive either of the messages above, you can try to unlock the drive or remove the write protection. Therefore, you need to unlock, decrypt, and remove the write protection to make Diskpart Clean work properly. There are two options for you: remove write protection by editing the registry key or remove the read-only state from the target device.
# Way 1: Remove Write Protection by Editing the Registry Key
When you confirm that the target device is write-protected, you can edit the relevant registry key to remove the write protection.
Step 1. Connect the target device to your computer.
Step 2. Press
Win
+
R
to open the
Run
dialog > type
regedit
> hit
Enter
to open
Registry Editor
.
Step 3. Navigate to the following path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies
.
Step 4. In the right pane, find the
write Protection
key and double-click it to change its
value
to
0
.
Tip
: If you cannot find
StorageDevicePolicies
, you can create it manually: right-click on
Control
> select
New
> hit
Key
> rename the new key to
StorageDevicePolicies
> right-click it to choose
New
> hit
Dword
> specify the name as
WriteProtect
> double-click
WriteProtect
to set the
value
to
0
.
Step 5. Hit
OK
to save the changes. Finally, close
Registry Editor
and reboot your computer.
# Way 2: Remove Read-Only State from Device
There is a chance that your external hard drive, USB drive, or SD card shows as Read-only in Disk Management. If so, take the steps below to clear this state:
Step 1. Connect this device to your computer.
Step 2. Type
cmd
in the
search bar
to locate
Command Prompt
and hit it.
Step 3. In the command window, type
diskpart
and hit
Enter
.
Step 4. type
list disk
and hit
Enter
to show all the disks on your computer.
Step 5. Type
select disk #
and hit
Enter
. (
#
should be the actual disk number of your read-only device.) Here, we take removing read-only for volumes on
disk 1
as an example, so we type
select disk 1
and hit
Enter
.
Step 6. Type
attributes disk clear readonly
and hit
Enter
.
Fix 3: Run CHKDSK in Command Prompt
When DiskPart Clean stops working, you may receive a message telling you that
DiskPart has encountered an error: The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error
. This I/O (short for Input/Output) device error indicates that there are logically bad sectors, corrupted partition tables or physical sectors.
Although most disk I/O errors are caused by physical damage of the disk, running CHKDSK is also worth a try. Here’s how to do it:
Tip
: In addition to running CHKDSK, you can also try reinstalling or
updating Disk driver
.
Step 1. Run
Command Prompt
as an administrator.
Step 2. Copy & paste
chkdsk G: /f /r /x
into the command window and hit
Enter
.
G
refers to the drive letter of the partition you want to repair, you should replace it with yours.
Fix 4: Wipe the Drive Using Diskpart Clean Command
If you receive the
Access is denied
error, chances are that the wiped disk contains system files hence Diskpart Clean not working occurs. Therefore, it is a good option to boot your computer from a
bootable drive
and erase the target device in the Windows PE.
Step 1. Prepare a
Windows installation disk
, insert it into your computer and boot from it.
Fix 5: Wipe the Drive Using Diskpart Clean Alternative – MiniTool PartitionWizard
If you are not familiar with Command Prompt, the first method to use the
Clean All
command might not be the best choice for you to erase a disk because it is easy to make mistakes. Therefore, it is advisable to use a more user-friendly disk-wiping solution - MiniTool PartitionWizard.
This free partition manager provides you with simple ways to organize disk partitions which is fully compatible with Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7. Even if you are a computer beginner, you can erase your disk easily with just a few clicks. Here’s how to do that:
Step 1. Launch the program and select the disk that you need to wipe from the right pane.
Step 2. Click on
Wipe Disk
from the left action panel and then you will be prompted by a warning message informing you to select one of the five wiping methods. Just choose one and hit
OK
.
Tip
:
Generally speaking, the latter two methods are more time-consuming but safer.
If you choose either of them, it will be pretty hard to recover the wiped data.
Step 3. Now, you will see a preview page in which the selected disk becomes unallocated. Finally, hit
Apply
to perform the changes.
After using the solutions below, the DiskPart Clean command on your PC may work properly now. However, you cannot be too cautious when using this command because there is no confirmation message before running it. What’s more, although you can
undo the DiskPart Clean command
, the process is pretty troublesome if you select the wrong object.
At the same time, wiping the disk will erase all the data on your computer. If you use MiniTool PartitionWizard or continue to use the DiskPart Clean command to wipe your disk, it is necessary to back up your precious personal files to another external drive to before proceeding.
Here, we recommend creating a backup of your files with a piece of
reliable and professional backup software
– MiniTool ShadowMaker. This free tool is dedicated to helping you to back up your files, folders, systems, partitions, and disks with easy steps. Now, create a file backup with us:
Step 1. Download, install and launch this program. Click the following button to get a 30-day free trial.
Step 2. Click on
Keep Trial
and then go to the
Backup
page.
Step 3. Go to
SOURCE
>
Folders and Files
to select a backup source. After making your decision, hit
OK
to return to the
Backup
page. In
DESTINATION
, choose a storage path for your backup.
Step 4. Hit
Back Up Now
to start the backup task right away.
We Need Your Voice
In this guide, we show you 5 viable solutions to fix DiskPart Clean not working as per different conditions. The last solution is preferred by most people. Besides, we also sincerely advise you to back up your important files before wiping the target disk. Do you have other ideas about this issue or our service? Leave your comment below or contact us via
[email protected]
.
Diskpart Clean Not Working FAQ
Why is diskpart clean not working?
The DiskPart Clean command not working can be caused by the reasons below:
The target hard drive, USB drive or SD card is not correctly connected to your PC.
The disk is locked or write-protected.
There are logically bad sectors, corrupted partition tables or physical sectors.
The wiped disk contains system files.
How do I run disk part clean?
Press
Win
+
R
to open the
Run
box > type
diskpart
> hit
Enter
, then type the following commands one by one and hit
Enter
after each of them:
list disk
select disk X
(
X
stands for the number of the disk to wipe)
clean
What does diskpart clean actually do?
The DiskPart Clean command can help you to erase a disk and it will delete any and all partitions or volume formats from the disk.
How do I force delete a partition?
Launch
Command Prompt
as an administrator and then run the following command one by one:
diskpart
list disk
select disk x
list partition X
delete partition override
Remember to replace
x
with your target disk number and
X
for the selected partition number.
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