How can I recover data after accidentally using Diskpart to clean my hard drive?

Diskpart is a free command-line disk management utility that comes with Windows, and it's one that all computer users should know about. One of its most useful commands is `clean`, which can clear a drive with a single button press.

The DiskPart clean command deletes all partitions on the selected disk, along with all its existing data, whether you're clearing a simple volume or the entire disk.

• Data can be recovered after using the "clean" command in diskpart for the first and second operations.
• Data and partitions cannot be recovered after executing the "clean all" command (third operation).

If you've already executed the clean command on a disk or partition, don't panic. Stop using your hard drive or storage device and apply the solutions from this page to undo the diskpart clean command and save your important files and partitions right away.

Solution 1: Recover Data After Accidental Disk Cleanup with DiskPart

Applies to: Emergency and immediate data recovery

After running the DiskPart clean command on a disk or partition, the most pressing task is to recover all crucial files. To ensure the availability of your device and data, you need to follow two steps:

1. Recover lost data from a cleaned-up disk or partition

As we mentioned earlier, only data deleted with the “clean” command can be restored. If you've already run “clean all,” skip ahead to the next section to make your disk or partition available for new data.

Then, what tool can recover from diskpart command and recover data from a disk that has been cleaned? Well, generally speaking, a professional data recovery tool can do the job. Here, we recommend you try tools Data Recovery Wizard.

It can deeply scan the hard drive or partition that has been cleaned by Diskpart and recover data from erased hard drive in 3 simple steps.

To get unlimited recovery, and for an uninterrupted disk data recovery process, it's recommended to activate the software. Of course, if your disk data is less than 2GB, you can also try the free version of Data Recovery Wizard Free.

Step 1: Select the disk to scan

To start the recovery of files deleted with DiskPart, you need to determine where the files were stored before they were deleted. The Data Recovery Wizard tool will list all drives loaded on your computer, so select the correct drive for scanning. Hover the mouse cursor over the drive and click “Scan.”

Step 2: Review the scan results

Once the scan is complete, select the “Deleted Files” and “Other Lost Files” folders on the left. Then, click “Filter” to display specific types of files, like images, videos, Word documents, PDFs, and so on.

Step 3: Preview and recover

After finding the deleted files by DiskPart, you can preview them one by one by double-clicking or check their integrity with the “Preview” button. Finally, click “Recover”. To avoid data overwriting, select another disk to save the recovered files.

# 2. Reuse the Disk/Partition with Disk Management

After restoring lost data from the DiskPart clean command, you will need to recreate partitions on the hard drive or external storage device using Disk Management:

If you're cleaning a hard drive, open Disk Management, find the drive you just cleaned, and right-click it. Select “Initialize.” If you're cleaning an external storage device, plug it into your computer first.

Step 1: Right-click unallocated space on the disk or external storage device and open Disk Management.

Step 2: Choose "New Simple Volume."

Create a new partition on the cleaned up disk or partition

Step 3: Set the partition size, create a new file system (NTFS), assign a drive letter, etc., and click “Finish” to create the new partition.

If you wiped the entire disk, repeat the process a few times.

You can now reuse the disk or partition to save data again.

Solution 2: Use Partition Recovery Software to Undo Clean Diskpart

Useful for: one-shot partition recovery, simply and effectively

Another solution you can try is to seek assistance from a reliable Partition Recovery tool. In this case, we recommend giving Partition Recovery a try. With it, you can scan the entire disk directly and recover all deleted partitions along with their data in just a few simple steps:

Step 1: Run the Partition Recovery tool on your computer.

Select the hard drive or device where you lost your partition, and click “Scan” to proceed.

Step 2: Wait for the scan to complete.

Have the program scan the selected disk and look for lost partitions.

Step 3: Preview and recover the lost partition.

Please double click on the partition that is labeled as “Lost” but can be recovered as “Good”.

Preview the contents of the lost partition. Click “OK” and then click “Continue” to start the recovery of the lost partition.

4. Click “Start Recovery” to finish the partition recovery process.

Note: If the utility reports conflicts, back up important data to an external drive before proceeding with the final restore.

How to Protect Data from Damage by the DiskPart Clean Command

In short, it's not enough to know the solution to undo DiskPart clean command and retrieve your lost data. It's more important to protect your data and disk partitions. Here are two useful tips to help you:

1. Back up important data to prevent catastrophic loss of information.

Meanwhile, it's necessary to back up important data on your computer hard drive to an external storage device. Todo Backup tools allow you to back up data and disk partitions with just three steps. With these backups, you can recover from any data loss disaster at any time.

Step 1: Launch Todo Backup and then choose “Disk/Partition Backup”.

Step 2: Select the disk partitions you want to back up. Then choose a location to save your backup files.

Step 3. Click “Start” to begin the backup process.

2. Proceed with caution when using the 'clean' command in DiskPart.

Exercise caution, and back up all important data on the disk before you run the cleanup command on a disk partition or external storage device. Make sure to back up important data beforehand whenever you plan to use DiskPart to run the cleanup command.

The bottom line?

On this page, we will explain what the “clean” and “clean all” commands mean in the context of the DiskPart utility. After running the “clean” command on a drive, you can still recover deleted data and partitions.

To undo a "DiskPart clean" command, start by avoiding making any changes to your hard drive. Then, seek out reliable methods to help you. Even if you've only used "diskpart clean," you can still recover all your data and partitions using partition recovery tools, data recovery software, or data recovery services.

Accidentally used Diskpart to clean your hard drive? FAQ

Below are four additional questions about accidental disk cleaning with Diskpart. Click here to view the answers.

How do I undo a clean disk partition?

No, using the `clean` command in Diskpart is irreversible. Unallocated space can be used to create new partitions, but formatting it will not recover your data. Instead, it makes the recovery of the erased partition more challenging. If you accidentally ran the `clean` command, do not execute any further commands. Immediately seek assistance from data recovery professionals.

2. Does diskpart clean delete files?

The "Diskpart Erase/Clean" command will completely delete and destroy all data on the selected drive. Make sure you are erasing the correct disk. After typing "diskpart", type "clean" at the prompt. This will delete all data, partitions, and signatures from the drive.

How to recover partitions using CMD?

Follow these steps to repair the partition: Type “CMD” in the Windows search box. Right-click on the “Command Prompt” app and select “Run as administrator.” Type the following command: “chkdsk X: /f/r/x” (replace “X” with the drive letter of the damaged partition) and press “Enter.”

How do you terminate all commands in DiskPart?

Not so, as the screen shot on the right shows. Some sites suggest that you can stop it with an OFFLINE DISK/ONLINE DISK command or by terminating DISKPART with CNTL+C. You can't. The only way to stop a CLEAN ALL is to terminate the disk: for an internal disk, that means rebooting.