Selling Windows 8 Laptop

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blairharrington

blairharrington

Senior member
Jan 1, 2009
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I'm about to sell my Windows 8 laptop on Craigslist. How do I prep it for sale. Meaning, make sure the buyer can't access past files, bring it to factory settings, etc. I should add that the laptop was updated to 8.1 (free update) and I had to provide my email address to do so, so I'm not sure how that affects things. Thanks.

PS. Laptop came with no discs when purchased new. It does have a DVD drive though.
 
S

soldsoul4foos

Member
Jul 9, 2010
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Look....If someone wants to go at great lengths to get your shit, they probably can. Nothing is absolute. Nobody wants to extract the selfies you shot and shit like that. LOL
 
bbhaag

bbhaag

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2011
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blairharrington said:
Will this delete all traces of previous files so they can't be recovered by any means?
Click to expand...
This is a copy and paste from the second option in his link.

If you want to recycle your PC, give it away, or start over with it, you can reset it completely
Note


  • If you upgraded your PC from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 and your PC has a Windows 8 recovery partition, resetting your PC will restore Windows 8. You’ll need to upgrade to Windows 8.1 after the reset has finished.



Warning


  • All of your personal files will be deleted and your settings will be reset. All apps that you installed will be removed. Only apps that came with your PC will be reinstalled.



To reset your PC


  1. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap Settings, and then tap Change PC settings.
    (If you're using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, click Settings, and then click Change PC settings.)
  2. Tap or click Update and recovery, and then tap or click Recovery.
  3. Under Remove everything and reinstall Windows, tap or click Get started.
  4. Follow the instructions on the screen.
    Note
    • You'll be asked to choose whether you want to erase data quickly or thoroughly. If you choose to erase data quickly, some data might be recoverable using special software. If you choose to erase data thoroughly, this will take longer but it makes recovering data less likely.


 
Charlie98

Charlie98

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2011
6,298
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blairharrington said:
Will this delete all traces of previous files so they can't be recovered by any means?
Click to expand...

No. The data is still there. The only way to get rid of your data is to overwrite it.

Personally, if it was me, I would get or borrow a W8 install disk, secure erase the HDD and clean install W8.

I think with programs like Acronis, you can choose to wipe specific partitions (in this case, skipping the recovery partition.) What brand of HDD is it?
 
ninaholic37

ninaholic37

Golden Member
Apr 13, 2012
1,883
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Every laptop I've sold had a hidden recovery partition. Holding down specific button(s) when the computer boots up wipes the hard drive and restores everything to factory settings. Search for the key sequence for your laptop on Google, here were mine:

Dell - Ctrl-F11
Asus - F9
Acer - F10 or Alt-F10
 
Last edited:
notposting

notposting

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2005
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Charlie98 said:
No. The data is still there. The only way to get rid of your data is to overwrite it.

Personally, if it was me, I would get or borrow a W8 install disk, secure erase the HDD and clean install W8.

I think with programs like Acronis, you can choose to wipe specific partitions (in this case, skipping the recovery partition.) What brand of HDD is it?
Click to expand...

The reset has an option to overwrite data, see post above you.

Also, I can confirm that it takes forever, as it should.
 
Charlie98

Charlie98

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2011
6,298
64
91
notposting said:
The reset has an option to overwrite data, see post above you.

Also, I can confirm that it takes forever, as it should.
Click to expand...

So does a long format... What I'm seeing is this:

All of your personal files will be deleted...
...If you choose to erase data thoroughly, this will take longer but it makes recovering data less likely.
Click to expand...

...but not impossible. Deleting is just telling the drive you don't want that information anymore... it is not overwriting it.
 
bbhaag

bbhaag

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2011
7,137
2,571
146
I think you guys are splitting hairs. A thorough reset overwrites the data on drive many times rendering it next to impossible to recover.
Can the NSA do it. Sure but the person you're selling the laptop to doesn't have the tools or skills necessary.

I think the OP will be just fine resetting the laptop using the Windows 8 method and when prompted choose the "Fully clean the drive" option.
 
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Charlie98

Charlie98

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2011
6,298
64
91
OP, just as a qualifier... my neighbor (and bowling buddy) owns a company that specialized in computer forensics... going into a computer and pulling out data that has been hidden or 'erased,' for the courts and such. After talking with him, and seeing the stuff he can do to pull up data past what people have done to get rid of it, I've developed the stance to wipe a drive completely by overwriting it several times. Overkill? Maybe...

But what bbhaag says is mostly correct...

Sure but the person you're selling the laptop to doesn't have the tools or skills necessary.
Click to expand...
 
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