How do i wipe a computer for selling??

[230K]

Hi

The wife has managed to sell her 1 year old laptop to a relative, how do i go about wiping all the data off it, i have put all the photographs etc on our external hard drive but is that enough?

Not suspicious of relative at all just want to leave it devoid of all the usual crap that builds up over time.

It is Dell Vostro running Vista home basic.

Can anyone advise?

Thanks,

230K

 

[Gollom]

Hi

The wife has managed to sell her 1 year old laptop to a relative, how do i go about wiping all the data off it, i have put all the photographs etc on our external hard drive but is that enough?

Not suspicious of relative at all just want to leave it devoid of all the usual crap that builds up over time.

It is Dell Vostro running Vista home basic.

Can anyone advise?

Thanks,

230K

I'd reformat the hard drive and reinstall to be honest. Dell's restore software is pretty good. There are various apps around that claim to be able to do it without a reinstall but in my experience they are not all that effective.

Note that doing the above will not make sure that someone determined and skilled enough could not ressurect what used to be on there - for that you need software that writes "z" all over the disk quite a few times. As it is a relative you are probably quite safe

 

[A210AMG]

If you want to really zap anything your best using something such as kill disk then re install the OS and drivers etc.


Stuff is stored in many places so its one of the only ways to be sure other than swapping the hard drive for another.

 

[stevesey]

So you don't want to wipe the entire hard disk? But leave Vista on there?

As its a Dell is there a recovery partion pn the disk to restore it to factory settings - try pressing F12 when booting.

Then to clear any residual data that could be recovered using undelete utils - find a 3rd party disk de-fragmenter that contains a zero empty sectors option and run that. Can't think of one of the top of my head - anyone else any ideas, google may help.

 

[Deker]

Dareks Boot and Nuke is one of the freebies for wiping disks (just a quick run on the lowest mode would suffice if it's just a clean you want), works well but just make sure you have the install disks if you run it as it'll also wipe out any hidden restore partitions

EDIT: my mistake, Dareks would be only useful if you didn't have a restore partition in this instance and wanted to restore from the manufactureres disks

 

[timskemp]

Soft cloth and Servisol 30 foam cleaner - brings the case up like new.

 

[verytalldave]

Very good and cleans to "government" standards..............

Window Washer Online Privacy Software | Online Privacy Protection | Webroot

 

[w124coupe]

Two real options (for free):

1. As discussed, used the Dell recovery partition to reinstall (assuming its still there) and then let Windows update do its stuff.

2. Set up a new user account (via control panel, user accounts) and then use that one to delete all the others (this removes all My Docs etc for the deleted users). Then run defrag (the built in one is fine).


Then, for both cases, use (free) Ccleaner app and tick to say overwrite free space (this will clear up temp space, browsing history, lots of varied logs and lists will and also prevent casual access to the deleted files - e.g. by using undelete etc ).

Not sufficient for a PC to be sold on Ebay but absolutely fine for a relative....

Option 2 is far better in terms of them enjoying a faster PC - especially if yours has the option to stop the restore before all the "crapware" gets installed....

 

[Noodle-Pulp]

Not sufficient for a PC to be sold on Ebay but absolutely fine for a relative....

Unless your relative is your mum and you tend to surf the net one-handed

 

[timskemp]

Unless your relative is your mum and you tend to surf the net one-handed

"If there's one thing my teenage son has learned on the internet, it's how to use a mouse with his left hand"

 

[w124coupe]

Unless your relative is your mum and you tend to surf the net one-handed

Ah, so that's what noodle-pulp is?

 

[Noodle-Pulp]

Ah, so that's what noodle-pulp is?

for the benefit of the tape...

Noodle pulp is created during paper and plasterboard recycling:

[the] process separates the wallboard into gypsum powder and paper flakes with a patented process.

The recyclable gypsum is trucked back to giboard manufacturers, where it is mixed with virgin rock to make new wallboard.

The recyclable paper, in the form of noodle pulp, is returned to paper companies where it is mixed with virgin pulp to make new paper products such as wallboard backing.

Source: Zero Waste New Zealand Trust | New West Gypsum Recycling Inc

 

[Piff]

for the benefit of the tape...

Noodle pulp is created during paper recycling:

[the] process separates the wallboard into gypsum powder and paper flakes with a patented process.

The recyclable gypsum is trucked back to giboard manufacturers, where it is mixed with virgin rock to make new wallboard.

The recyclable paper, in the form of noodle pulp, is returned to paper companies where it is mixed with virgin pulp to make new paper products such as wallboard backing.

Source: Zero Waste New Zealand Trust | New West Gypsum Recycling Inc

What

 

[Stratman]

If it's not too late, have a look at this