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I have a big problem my ssd C drive is full. I need to format it but as it has Windows on it I cannot do it is there a program I can run that formats the disk completely including Windows so I can start with a clean install. On top of this I seem to have a copy of Windows on my E drive.

TIA

John

John,
So my question here is, do you just use your C: drive for your System partition or do you use it for programs as well?

You see to me the only reason that you would want to format it would be that you only use if for Windows and it is now completely full. You are trying to format completely and then just re-install Windows and hope that your space situation will improve?

How big is your SSD? Might it not be more worth while getting a bigger SSD and then cloning your C: drive to the new one and then switching the drives over?

In short I am reluctant to give advice when I am unsure of the goal and the full circumstances.

Hi Steve it's a 500Gb ssd Programs are on another 500Gb ssd. I want to format C as a partition for Windows The copy of Windows 7 is on another disk. I want to format that too.

OK, so what is filling up the 500GB then? I am curious as when I was on Win 10 my C: SSD was only 250GB.

Putting that aside, Are you not able to put your Win 7 installation on a bootable USB drive? If so why not just boot from that and format the C: drive from the installation process.
Of course it goes without saying that you need to check that you can boot from the USB before you do anything else.

Now completely reinstalling from scratch will of course completely make your installed programs on the other disk irrelevant, as it will wipe out your registry.

If you do want to do what i suspect then maybe reading this article first will help you https://appuals.com/reinstall-windows-7-without-disc/. I am sure that there are plenty of others but it does seem readable and easy to follow.

The main thing is having your key. Without it you are absolutely screwed as you will not get another now. The big difference between 7 and 10 is that with 10 your key was stored in your MS account when you logged on so you didn't need to keep it. It sounds implausible but when my system got wiped by Acronis I found it to be true.

I have the key. Apart from windows I can't see what is filling up the drive.

That sounds like temp space is not being freed up.
If you are going forward anyway, it might be worth running CCleaner or something like first. You never know it may free up a ton of stuff and solve the problem for you.

CCleaner is an amazing program. Will do that first.

I've got the ISO image but the tool to make a window ISO bootable DVD is no longer supported by Microsoft. It loads and crashes ssciy can't find the Windows 7 support page as it's now a 404 on the website. Is there another ISO bootable tool to use

OK I understand that CCleaner did not help.
You have a Win 7 iso file but need to make a bootable USB.

If this is correct then watch the following youtube video. Although it shows an actual Win 10 installation that is actually irrelevant.
The first part talks about the creation of an iso file from a DVD, but you can skip that.
The next bit shows you how to create a bootable USB drive and how to boot to it if you don't know how. It also goes into the deletion of the partitions on the C: drive.

Have a look and see if that helps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtPYpM1w90U

Thanks Steve that is most useful.

Used Rufus to copy ISO to a USB drive. Formated it for NTFS. Started transfer than crashed with a fatal error message. Whatever happened its bricked my PC.

What? You were transfering the iso to the USB and the PC bricked??? That is extraordinarily bad timing, or did you mean that you had created the USB and had booted from it and the crash happened on the install?

So when you power on, do you gets lights on the pc and here sounds of it staring, e.g. fans or just total silence?

Sorry I meant halfway through the transfer to the USB it gave the fatal error message. Anyway drastic action needed as I've bought 500gb ssd as a replacement then load Windows 7 from scratch.

That's fine, I thought that is what you meant but just wasn't sure.

OK, understand that you have bought a new SSD - the same size. So do you think that it was an SSD failure then rather than a motherboard issue?
if it is an SSD failure it would explain the extraordinary lack of space. It would fit that the SSD was erroring and marking blocks as unusable and therefore the drive seemingly full.

Next question, how are you going to install Win 7 again? Are you going to copy the iso to the USB on another computer.

I've got Windows 7 install CD. I'm beginning to think it's a SSD failure.

Today I've been having fun with a HP Windows 10 laptop that I bought for business use. Few hours of updates this afternoon. Looks OK. Only need it for Teams meetings etc.

OK well that makes life a lot easier. You are one of the lucky ones.
I am assuming that the Win 7 Service Packs can still be got from somewhere.

Once you are back up and running you can check out the SSD by placing in another connection, even an external USB to SSD cable will do, and then try formatting it or running diags against it.
The space issue and crash seems to point to it but it is still not confirmed.

Of course you are free to say 'screw that, I have had enough excitement for one week' but it is always wise to ensure that any media you trash can't be used by somebody else to gain info.

Sp1 is available from several tech sites. I'm backing up my software onto a USB stick from the E drive just in case. I'll keep the original ssd and run Samsung Magician to test it.

More problems. Turn it on just now and 2 beeps RAM parity error if remember correctly. Think it's time get a new PC. I got it early / mid 2000s so the old girl has turned her toes up. I've got 3 SSDs totalling 2 TB so I'll build a gaming pc. I'm waiting for a tax rebate to fund it.

Wow! It has to be said that it is amazing that it has lasted so long.

Welcome to the Windows 11 club.

Is windows 11 any good. I've heard a lot of different opinions about.