This is a built-in software feature. Depending on your manufacturer or OS settings, a factory reset might give you an explicit choice to wipe "all drives" or "only the drive where Windows is installed."
The short answer is It only overwrites the specific drive or partition you select for the installation. does clean install wipe all drives exclusive
Power users often open the Command Prompt during installation (Shift + F10) and type diskpart , followed by clean . This is a built-in software feature
Files, documents, photos, and videos located on the drive or partition where the operating system is installed. Files, documents, photos, and videos located on the
If you are comfortable opening your computer case or laptop backplate, disconnect the SATA data cables or remove secondary M.2 SSDs.
The moment you realize you have wiped the wrong drive, stop using the computer. Continuing to use the drive writes new data over the old data, making recovery increasingly difficult or impossible.