Jump to content

Welcome to Geeks to Go - Register now for FREE

Need help with your computer or device? Want to learn new tech skills? You're in the right place!
Geeks to Go is a friendly community of tech experts who can solve any problem you have. Just create a free account and post your question. Our volunteers will reply quickly and guide you through the steps. Don't let tech troubles stop you. Join Geeks to Go now and get the support you need!

How it Works Create Account
Photo

Wiping Vista Laptop without CD


  • Please log in to reply

#1
kp123

kp123

    New Member

  • Member
  • Pip
  • 2 posts
Hi,

I am trying to sell my Dell Inspiron 1501 Laptop. It came with Windows XP Home Basic and I upgraded it to Windows Vista Home Basic. To be honest, the whole Vista thing frustrated me so much that I bought a MacBook Pro and very happy with that. I can't find my Installation CD for either OS for my Dell Laptop though, and want to wipe all my files and software etc. of the Harddrive before I sell it. Don't want someone to be stuck with my crap, and also don't want them to see all my crap! I was wondering whether you could tell me a safe, easy way to clean the harddrive leaving only the operating system on it.

Thanks for any help,

Keeto
  • 0

Advertisements


#2
DaffyKantReed

DaffyKantReed

    Member

  • Member
  • PipPipPip
  • 485 posts
DBAN
http://downloads.sou...use_mirror=iweb

It will overwrite the HDD making data recovery near impossible. You WILL need to reinstall the OS however. Sell it with Linux if you require a free OS.
  • 0

#3
kp123

kp123

    New Member

  • Topic Starter
  • Member
  • Pip
  • 2 posts
hi thanks for that. someone told me today that i could just set it to factory default using the F8 key when rebooting the system. could this work?wasnt entirely sure if that was a good idea, so thought id ask here first.thanks.
keeto
  • 0

#4
DaffyKantReed

DaffyKantReed

    Member

  • Member
  • PipPipPip
  • 485 posts
On some OEM systems, pressing the F8 key whilst booting will give you the option to reinstall the OS. This still makes it possible to recover your data.

If you can create a bootable Vista DVD from within Windows or by using F8, do so. Then overwrite the hard drive with DBAN, then finally reinstall the OS.
  • 0






Similar Topics

0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users

As Featured On:

Microsoft Yahoo BBC MSN PC Magazine Washington Post HP