====== Using Windows DiskPart Tool to Reset External USB SSD Drive to Factory ======
Right click on the Windows Button and Left Click on Run.
Type DiskPart in the text input line and press enter. Next to the DISKPART> prompt, enter the following commands. Make sure to select he proper drive # that you want to "CLEAN" (that is, to reset to factory). If you select the wrong disk, like the Disk C:> where the operating system is installed, you will likely DELETE YOUR WINDOWS O/S.
Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.3636
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: DESKTOP-EI33F04
DISKPART> list disk
Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 1863 GB 1024 KB
Disk 1 Online 15 TB 0 B *
DISKPART> select disk 1
Disk 1 is now the selected disk.
DISKPART> clean
DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk.
DISKPART> list disk
Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 1863 GB 1024 KB
* Disk 1 Online 15 TB 15 TB
DISKPART> Exit
Now you can use Windows Disk Management Snap-in to initialize the disk, partition it, and format it.
WELL MAYBE NOT!
You may need to do more to separately delete each of the two partitions on disk 1, including using the "override" parameter to delete any protected partitions, and then clean the entire selected disk again. Thereafter, if you list partition on the selected disk, there will be none listed. Try to follow what I did as follows:
Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.3636
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: DESKTOP-EI33F04
DISKPART> list disk
Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 1863 GB 1024 KB
Disk 1 Online 15 TB 0 B *
DISKPART> select disk 1
Disk 1 is now the selected disk.
DISKPART> list partition
Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 Reserved 15 MB 24 KB
Partition 2 Primary 15 TB 16 MB
DISKPART> select partition 2
Partition 2 is now the selected partition.
DISKPART> list partition
Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 Reserved 15 MB 24 KB
* Partition 2 Primary 15 TB 16 MB
DISKPART> select partition 2
Partition 2 is now the selected partition.
DISKPART> delete partition
DiskPart successfully deleted the selected partition.
DISKPART> select partition 1
Partition 1 is now the selected partition.
DISKPART> list partition
Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
* Partition 1 Reserved 15 MB 24 KB
Partition 2 Primary 15 TB 16 MB
DISKPART> delete partition
Virtual Disk Service error:
Cannot delete a protected partition without the force protected parameter set.
DISKPART> select partition 1
Partition 1 is now the selected partition.
DISKPART> list partition
Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
* Partition 1 Reserved 15 MB 24 KB
Partition 2 Primary 15 TB 16 MB
DISKPART> delete partition override
DiskPart successfully deleted the selected partition.
DISKPART> list partition
Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 Reserved 15 MB 24 KB
Partition 2 Primary 15 TB 16 MB
DISKPART> list disk
Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 1863 GB 1024 KB
* Disk 1 Online 15 TB 0 B *
DISKPART> select disk 1
Disk 1 is now the selected disk.
DISKPART> clean
DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk.
DISKPART> list disk
Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 1863 GB 1024 KB
* Disk 1 Online 15 TB 15 TB
DISKPART> list partition
There are no partitions on this disk to show.
DISKPART>