jjs 64 Report post Posted October 16, 2009 I am selling my old Acer laptop on TradeMe and have listed it at $1 reserve. By way of background it is 1.4ghz, 192mb and has a 40gb hardrive. It is running Windows XP home. How can I delete everything so that the only software left on the computer is Windows? I.e I want it to be like when I bought the computer new. Thanks for your help! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bmw_guy 0 Report post Posted October 16, 2009 go through and delete all your files? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Driftit 2078 Report post Posted October 16, 2009 Format and reinstall. Most of the time it is quicker to do so. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bmw_guy 0 Report post Posted October 16, 2009 Format and reinstall. Most of the time it is quicker to do so. +1 Alot quicker imo Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jjs 64 Report post Posted October 16, 2009 go through and delete all your files? I was trying to avoid doing this. Format and reinstall. Most of the time it is quicker to do so. Unfortunately, I don't have the original XP home disc. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Braeden320 0 Report post Posted October 16, 2009 Link to said laptop, Keen for a bid Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bmw_guy 0 Report post Posted October 16, 2009 You could do a search under Local C: or where ever files are kept. ie. search for pictures,movies and music. Delete at once and so on Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DRTDVL 0 Report post Posted October 16, 2009 (edited) i'll find you a good program... you basically need to fill the drive with 1's and 0's a few times otherwise it's very very easy to recover... most standand wipes are 3x of both to make it generally unrecoverable... government wipes are 10x and military wipes are 32x but they usually melt the drives... Edited October 16, 2009 by DRTDVL Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DRTDVL 0 Report post Posted October 16, 2009 (edited) better link: http://sourceforge.net/projects/dban/files...86.zip/download formatting of the drive really doesn't do too much even depeting partitions - resizing and reformating you can still recover with out toooo much effort... Edited October 16, 2009 by DRTDVL Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sp8s 1 Report post Posted October 16, 2009 Unfortunately, I don't have the original XP home disc.You dont need the original disk if you have the sticker on the laptop that has the XP license number on it. Just borrow a disk from a mate. Plenty of programs around that will wipe the hard drive, remember google is your friend. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DRTDVL 0 Report post Posted October 16, 2009 you could pull the drive out and plug it into a second machine and wipe it... If you want i can do it for you... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
*sic 1 Report post Posted October 17, 2009 gay pron catching up with you? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vyking56 0 Report post Posted October 18, 2009 Just to clarify some of the above ^ Deleting, formatting, overwriting, reinstalling the OS etc etc does not physically erase data & files, neither does re-partitioning or deleting the File Allocation Table. Once data has been written to a hard drive or storage device, the only way to prevent the recovery of it again is to over-write it "x" amount of times. Easily downloaded free software will recover deleted data from storage media, though disks which have been entirely filled with multiple passes of useless "1's" and "0's" are much harder to recover from without the proper forensic tools. Government and Military which deal with restricted data use tools like these below to declassify drives and devices; (Multiple sweeps of "1's" and "0's") XR25, Destroy. But devices classified at a levels above Restricted have to be physically destroyed. I have a secure destruction tool next to my desk. To the untrained eye, it looks like an 8lb log-splitter! Simple and very effective. But to answer your question - how much effort do you want to put into making your files non-recoverable? If you dont have another machine you can mount the hard disk drive into, physically copying "garbage files" over and over again until you fill the drive (then delete and repeat the process a few times) will do it. This tool is kind of cool Cipher http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315672 it will securely over-write (multiple times) all of the blank space on your disk. Best part about it is that you can do it from within Windows, so you dont need to make a boot CD or anything low-level. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
deeveus 81 Report post Posted October 20, 2009 If it has Acer eManagement it should have a recovery disc creator. If you can find that, create the disks, run them, update the O/S using windows update, free anti-virus and your set. This will be the easiest way without having to track down drivers e.t.c. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest FrantiC Report post Posted October 20, 2009 Whats on it? If it's personal or private, then maybe go with the whole HDD wipe and overwriting.. Or else just reformat because some chump who buys it will unlikely be THAT desperate to uncover what was on there before hand.... Data is still there until it is over written.. Formating merely fools the computer into thinking the space is empty, But it is all still there until the HDD writes new data in it's place.. Unless your paranoid about certain files etc, I wouldn't care less IMO. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
