Ways To Remove Windows Xp From An External Hard Drive?

To delete the Windows.old folder from an external hard drive, follow these steps:

  1. Right-click on Disk Cleanup and choose Run As Administrator. In the Disk Cleanup Options dialog, check the Files from all users on this computer box.
  2. Click on the hard disk where the Windows.old folder is located and click OK.
  3. Rename Program Files to Windows.old and run disk clean to clear system files.
  4. Wipe a hard drive to start fresh and clear data before selling it to a stranger. Formatting the drive also allows you to switch to a different file system type when using it.
  5. Use the Storage Sense to delete the Windows.old folder from your computer. Open Settings, click on System, and click on Storage. Under the “Storage” section, select the drive with the.old files and click OK.
  6. Delete your previous version of Windows by pressing the Windows logo key on your keyboard, selecting Settings > System > Storage, and opening Storage Settings. Under your hard drive information, select Temporary files and select the Previous version of Windows check box.
  7. On Windows 10 and 11, go to Settings > System > Storage > Temporary Files, select “Previous versions of Windows”, and click “Remove Files”.
  8. Press the Windows + R key, type msconfig, and press Enter. Select Windows 11/10/7/8 and then “Delete”.
  9. To delete the “Windows” folder on the HDD to save space, change ownership to Administrator.

In summary, deleting the Windows.old folder from an external hard drive can be done using various methods, such as using Disk Cleanup, renaming the folders, or obtaining permission from TrustedInstaller.


📹 How to Delete an Old Windows Installation from a Second Drive

A quick tutorial for how to delete an old windows installation from a second hard drive(HDD) or solid state drive(SSD). Be sure to …


How do I delete old Windows folder from external hard drive?

In order to remove temporary files from your hard drive, navigate to the section designated for temporary files. There, you will find a checkbox labeled “Previous version of Windows.” Selecting this checkbox will enable you to remove the files in question.

How do I delete an old Windows file on my hard drive?

To delete your previous Windows version, press the Windows logo key on your keyboard, then select Settings > System > Storage. Open Storage Settings, select Temporary files, and select the Previous version of Windows check box. Select Remove files. If you need to free up drive space and are confident your files and settings are where they should be, you can safely delete it yourself. If it’s been less than 10 days since upgrading, your previous version of Windows will be listed as a system file you can delete. However, you will be deleting the Windows. old folder, which contains files that allow you to go back to your previous version of Windows.

How do I wipe my external hard drive on Windows?

In order to erase the data on an external drive, it is first necessary to connect the drive to the PC via USB. Then, press the Windows + X keys simultaneously to open the Windows command prompt. In the command prompt, select Disk Management, right-click on the drive that is to be erased, and select the Format option. Finally, choose a new file system.

Why can’t I delete Windows old?

In order to remove temporary files from a Windows system, one must first search for the “Settings” option within the taskbar. Once this has been done, the “System Storage” option within the “This PC” section should be selected, and the user should then scroll down to the “Temporary files” section. In the section entitled “Remove temporary files,” select the checkbox labeled “Previous version of Windows” and then choose the option to “Remove files.” Should this solution prove beneficial, it would be greatly appreciated if you could accept the answer and upvote it, thus providing assistance to others in the community.

How do I delete Windows from an external HDD?
(Image Source: Pixabay.com)

How do I delete Windows from an external HDD?

To remove Windows from an old hard drive, follow these steps:

  1. List disks on the old hard drive.
  2. Select disk n and then partitions.
  3. Select partition n and then delete the partition.
  4. Connect the old hard drive to your PC.
  5. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant.
  6. Right-click on the partition containing Windows.
  7. Tick “Fill sectors with Zero” and click “OK”.

This process can be done by connecting the old hard drive to your PC, installing AOMEI Partition Assistant, right-clicking on the partition containing Windows, and ticking “Fill sectors with Zero” and clicking “OK”. This will remove Windows from the old hard drive, allowing more free storage space.

If you have a new SSD installed on your computer and want to delete Windows but keep files, you can use the old hard drive for data storage.

How do I permanently delete data from my external hard drive?

To wipe data from an external hard drive, use formatting features from Windows and Mac operating systems, but this method is not a fail-safe option. Some data recovery tools can bypass this. Another option is using dedicated secure data deletion software. Factory resets are not perfect for protecting sensitive data as they do not delete everything on the hard drive. However, there are software options available to restore data that cannot be accessed after a factory reset. Many users accidentally delete important documents or photos during a factory reset, which can be easily restored with the proper software.

How to remove Windows OS from hard drive?

To remove the boot entry and system files from a hard drive, press the Windows + R key, type msconfig, and press Enter. Select Windows 11/10/7/8 and then “Delete”. This will remove the entire Windows directory from the hard drive. If you have a 1TB hard drive and a 60GB SSD, you can install Windows 7 on it, but you need to retain user files and other data. To do this, back up your data while deleting the Windows operating system from the HDD. If you forget to back up data, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Pro can help restore lost files.

How to delete program files and windows folders on external hard drive?
(Image Source: Pixabay.com)

How to delete program files and windows folders on external hard drive?

To delete files from an external hard drive, follow these steps:

  1. Connect the external hard drive to your computer and open File Explorer.
  2. Double-click on the external hard drive and select “Delete” from the drop-down menu. You can also drag files to your Recycle Bin directly.
  3. To delete files one by one, use Command Prompt to clean a hard disk and inside data at once. This method is more efficient and can be repeated for large files. After completing these steps, empty the Recycle Bin.

How do I permanently Delete data from my external hard drive?

To wipe data from an external hard drive, use formatting features from Windows and Mac operating systems, but this method is not a fail-safe option. Some data recovery tools can bypass this. Another option is using dedicated secure data deletion software. Factory resets are not perfect for protecting sensitive data as they do not delete everything on the hard drive. However, there are software options available to restore data that cannot be accessed after a factory reset. Many users accidentally delete important documents or photos during a factory reset, which can be easily restored with the proper software.

How do I Delete undeletable files from an external hard drive?
(Image Source: Pixabay.com)

How do I Delete undeletable files from an external hard drive?

In order to remove the appropriate protection from the hard drive, it is necessary to enter the command “attributes disk clear readon” and then press the “enter” key.


📹 Delete Windows.old folder from Windows 10

After an upgrade in Windows 10 you’ll often have a Windows.old file folder left over. It takes up several gigabytes of disk space.


Ways To Remove Windows XP From An External Hard Drive
(Image Source: Pixabay.com)

Rafaela Priori Gutler

Hi, I’m Rafaela Priori Gutler, a passionate interior designer and DIY enthusiast. I love transforming spaces into beautiful, functional havens through creative decor and practical advice. Whether it’s a small DIY project or a full home makeover, I’m here to share my tips, tricks, and inspiration to help you design the space of your dreams. Let’s make your home as unique as you are!

Email: [email protected], [email protected]

About me

13 comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • You are a lifesaver, everywhere I looked the answer was either “durr just reformat it dummy, you should back up everything anyway” (yeah because I want to reinstall a terabyte of games to save 25GB of space) or “oh yeah just plug in a Linux USB stick to get around windows permissions” or “oh just open up the command prompt and type out paragraphs of commands you don’t understand”. WHY DOESN’T EVERYONE KNOW ABOUT THIS!??

  • You deserve more subs than I have. Thanks dude. Pros: 1. Speaks English, and with an understandable accent. 2. Quick and straight to the point, especially with an understanding narrative. 3. 1080p for that crisp text reading, plus the bonus of 60fps. No cons, fortunately! Can’t think of any, this deleted Windows without touching personal files! Salvaged an 256gb SSD from a dead laptop I upgraded it’s HDD from. Laptop died and built a PC about a year ago. Now I’ll have space for RDR2 to play again 😅

  • Great easy to follow tutorial which I thought was going to work. Renamed windows folder to Windows.old, that appeared to work as did the next few steps but when it had finished cleaning, everything was still there. Even the windows folder had renamed itself back to Windows without the .old. Don’t know where to turn next, tried the command line routine and a disk wiper off the hirens boot CD and still I can’t clear the 1tb SSD.

  • Very quick article, and very useful. I have a 25g gig drive I’ve had laying around for, who knows how long. Idk myself. I’ve been wanting to upgrade my laptop from 128 gb to 256 gb, but wanted to use win11 instead of win10. Now I can install win11 on the drive and have hopefully some better temp storage until I can purchase a 1tb drive

  • If “Disk Cleanup” windows doesn’t appear when you click on “Clean up system files”, then try deleting your temp files. Open the windows menu, type “%temp%” and enter, just select all files (Ctrl+A or Ctrl+E), right click and “Delete”. After a while the disk clean up windows sould appaer, but if it doesn’t, try to restart your PC

  • FOR ALL THE PEOPLE THAT SAY IT JUST POPS AWAY WHEN SELECTING THE DRIVE AGAIN: That happened to me too, and when i tried to open disk cleanup app again it just didn’t work at all FIX: For me, the fix was opening Task Manager Ctrl + Shift + Esc, and ending the task (called Disk Cleanup) After that, i would open it up again and try until it worked

  • Is it worth disconnecting the secondary drive with old windows on first, to see if it still boots without the old windows,as I used macrium reflect to clone/copy my whole drive onto my sdd to save reinstalling everything and I’m i safe to delete everything off my hard drive if the games were originally installed on there and not the sdd, will this cause like signature problems etc, sorry about my way of explaining completely new to pc lol.

  • By doing this exact process that you wonderfully laid out for us, will the target drive (the one you’re removing windows from) become a regular storage drive that I can then use to store all my programs on? Edit: what happens to the user folder/ user information when you remove windows from the old hdd? My main goal is to start fresh and install windows on a new ssd, and keep all my previous files on my old hard drive.

  • I did everything exactly the same – I have a new Windows is on another disk (which is divided into 2 volumes) and by doing all of the above in the article – old windows is deleted, but space is not added – and some programs show that free 44 GB, and some (windows disk utility including) show that free as before the deletion (about 20) – I can not find these files anymore – the only solution is to completely clean the disk?

  • Thank you. This should help a lot. My neighbors threw out their old computer with a 1tb hdd in it. The whole computer still worked, just the hdd ran slow. So I decided to install an ssd in it and sell it for $100, and keep this old hdd. I figured once I remove windows from it itll run better, hopefully

  • i’m so dumb! lol windows sent me a notification saying “would you like to delete old versions of windows since you’re low on disk space?” and me being the idiot i am, i accidentally clicked the notification instead of “yes”. after updating to windows 11, i barely have any storage so i’m gonna try this when i get home from my classes! thx a lot.

  • I’m using windows 10 and am trying to install windows 11, but all of my computer space suddenly disappeared and the “Windows.old” folder doesn’t even exist inside of my drive. However, there is the “Windows” folder the takes up more than 22GB, but I’m not sure if I should touch it. I seriously need some help because I don’t know what to do and I have less than 100MB on my computer and my space keeps vanishing out of nowhere.

  • Like before I used to use windows 10 then I switched to windows 11 cuz I thought it would be better but it made my laptop lag including gaming so like I had to go back windows 10 download every thing back a d now it tells me to delete previous vindows installation so like will it remove me from windows 11 or what happens pls tell me? cuz I need space in my laptop

Pin It on Pinterest

We use cookies in order to give you the best possible experience on our website. By continuing to use this site, you agree to our use of cookies.
Accept
Privacy Policy