what do I need to know before sending my non functioning laptop to someone...

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Charlie98

Charlie98

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2011
6,298
64
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Personally, I would wipe the drive no matter what... but that's me. Other than that, I don't see anything else.
 
Matt1970

Matt1970

Lifer
Mar 19, 2007
12,320
3
0
I wipe all mine but I do a lot on Craigslist and ebay and I don't want anything to come back and haunt me.
 
Naer

Naer

Diamond Member
Nov 28, 2013
3,481
182
106
OK I can't boot to win. How am I gonna wipe the data?
 
Steltek

Steltek

Diamond Member
Mar 29, 2001
3,352
1,090
136
Naer said:
OK I can't boot to win. How am I gonna wipe the data?
Click to expand...

If the laptop will otherwise boot using a bootable flash drive or CD, boot it using DBAN and wipe the hard drive.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/dban/

If the laptop isn't bootable, you can pull the hard drive, use an external SATA to USB adapter, and then wipe the drive using another system. If you do this, though, make sure you wipe the right drive (i.e. wipe your laptop drive and not the system drive of the system you are wiping from by accident)!

If the hard drive is nonfunctional, I've found my 5lb shop hammer to be nature's most convenient and otherwise perfect data removal solution.
 
Last edited:
Puppies04

Puppies04

Diamond Member
Apr 25, 2011
5,909
17
76
Naer said:
OK I can't boot to win. How am I gonna wipe the data?
Click to expand...

take out the hard drive and plug it into a PC then format the drive. At this point all you need to do is install windows and drivers and you will be back up and running (I assume the actual problem with the machine is you can't boot windows).

If you don't think you are capable of this then just wipe the drive and put it back in the laptop. Then take it to a computer shop, giving it to some random dude on craigslist sounds like an easy way to get burned.
 
A

ArisVer

Golden Member
Mar 6, 2011
1,345
32
91
Is the laptop bootable? Is the only issue you have with Windows not working?

One way to check is to boot off a live linux system and see if the laptop is working. Then you can just wipe the disk and sell it if you don't want it, or just install whatever OS you want.
 
Naer

Naer

Diamond Member
Nov 28, 2013
3,481
182
106
Puppies04 said:
take out the hard drive and plug it into a PC then format the drive. At this point all you need to do is install windows and drivers and you will be back up and running (I assume the actual problem with the machine is you can't boot windows).

If you don't think you are capable of this then just wipe the drive and put it back in the laptop. Then take it to a computer shop, giving it to some random dude on craigslist sounds like an easy way to get burned.
Click to expand...

Can I install win on the laptop hardrive once connected to the desktop and connect it back to the laptop? Can I do this cost free? That's assuming the laptop HDD is not broken. Also I purchased an sad for my desktop. Perhaps I just can replace the native HDD with the sad?
 
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