I Want To Sell My Laptop...

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  1. Posts : 1,705
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64 ®™
       #11

    Wandering Flame said:
    Reason I'm asking is, this computer already has the Dell drivers and downloads installed to make it as good as it is...and if I format with a Windows Vista CD, everything will be lost and I have to re-download drivers etc. It just makes the computer more valuable when selling.
    I would recommend a reformat, and to download and install the latest drivers so the computer is back up to date, as that is what, imo, will make it more appealing to potential buyers.
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  2. Posts : 167
    Vista
    Thread Starter
       #12

    ^yeah but what kind of format? OS disc format or special erasing program format?

    Well, to be honest there are pretty much no FILES that have sensitive information...but in the case where there is (like a word document with my credit card number on it) deleting that may not be safe as per your response, but what if I EDIT the word document, save it, then delete it? Surely then the identity thief will only be able to recover the EDITED document and not what it was initially?

    I was also curious about saved passwords and such. Like for instance, my password/username on this site is saved so I don't have to keep typing them. Should a new account not be able to know these saved usernames and passwords online? Thanks.

    ...Yeah you know what I'm just going to use the Eraser or DBAN like apparently everyone online has suggested...question is, I install the OS afterwards right? And why did it seem like someone on this page said that I wouldn't be able to have an admin account on the laptop after completely wiping the hard drive?
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  3. Posts : 313
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 clean install
       #13

    I also suggest to format your HD and reinstall OS before selling the laptop.
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  4. Posts : 1,705
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64 ®™
       #14

    Wandering Flame said:
    ^yeah but what kind of format? OS disc format or special erasing program format?
    An OS disk format will be enough for most people, use another more thorough program if you wish, but it's a time consuming process you don't necessarily need to do.
    Wandering Flame said:
    I install the OS afterwards right?
    Of course.
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  5. Posts : 167
    Vista
    Thread Starter
       #15

    Yeah...I'm thinking of just doing an Windows Vista disc format and selling my laptop off. I did this type of format before and it works fine now...and I'm not sure how well DBAN will allow me to reinstall the OP since I read MANY topics online where people complained they weren't able to do sh1t after using DBAN on their laptops and computers...

    Besides, the seller must also be an identify thief and know how to retrieve info after a Windows disc format...

    NOW my question is...in order to retrieve files after having formatted a laptop FROM A WINDOWS XP AND/OR VISTA DISC, will the thief need expensive programs that can do that for him? Just makes me feel a little more assurred I won't run into that kind of seller.

    Besides, I don't really have sensitive information. The ONLY thing I can think of that are sensitive, are saved usernames and passwords on website forums, and saved account information like on AMAZON.COM, WALMART.COM, etc. Those online retail websites have my credit card info stored, etc., and if the identity thief found out my password on Walmart.com for instance......then he can make purchases with my credit card. Does any of this make sense?

    Will an OS disc format clear any possibility of an identity thief from finding out SAVED USERNAMES AND PASSWORDS on websites? Guess not...since this is not a "full" erase by any chance...oh well...I just don't know what I'm going to do...I guess I risk having money stolen. Actually, here are all of my risks right now, and correct me if I'm wrong...

    1. Using disc erasing software like DBAN, and not be able to re-install an operating system afterwards since it won't let me, gives a crappy reason like (there's no hard drive detected) and now I have to do something involving a floppy disc, only there's no floppy disc drive on this laptop or most laptops for that matter.

    2. Selling my laptop away after having done a Windows Vista CD format from boot disc, and risk having sensitive information stolen by a douche buying used computers on Amazon.

    3....Yeah...

    So I don't know...I'm thinking of just giving it to my mom for 400 dollars (said she'll pay up to that amount) and the upside to this is, there'll be another laptop laying around in the house that I can use in case my new laptop, which I'm hopefully buying, needs to be worked on. The only downside to this is I'm probably losing up to 150 dollars since I believe I can sell it for up to 550 on Amazon, but I have to look into that and compare prices for people selling inpiron 1545 laptops...
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  6. Posts : 6,618
    W7x64 Pro, SuSe 12.1/** W7 x64 Pro, XP MCE
       #16

    Do as you see fit, but there are plenty of free programs available for recovering deleted data, that could retreive portions of old data, even if overwritten by new, unless the old data is fully erased. Maybe you don't think that you have any valuable data, but even data personally idenfifying you could be used for ID theft. You may not even think about how some data might be used.

    Personally, I would feel that $400 from mom is better than $550 from a stranger, not only because of security issues, but because it isn't necessarily free to sell on eBay, shipping, and can be a hassle. Besides, selling to your mother hopefully does something good for her.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 167
    Vista
    Thread Starter
       #17

    Sorry if this is a stupid question but...

    1. Do I have make anything with a floppy disc? My laptop has no floppy disc drive to even consider thinking about floppy's.

    2. Can I create a cd with DBAN burned onto it (I have to burn it if I'm using a CD right) and can I do this as an alternative to using floppy's and usb flash drives? I'm not really familiar with flash drives nor do I have a floppy disc drive on here. I also think what's being burned on the cd is an ISO file...

    3. After burning the CD, can I simply format it afterwards and make it as if it had nothing on it (like it had nothing on it before) or is DBAN hard to erase?

    4. Will I have to do anything like go into the BIOS? Or have anything to do with BIOS? Or is that the thing that asks me "want to boot from disc" when I turn my laptop with a bootable OS disc in it?

    5. After DBAN is done its autonuke option which I am likely to choose, do I re-install the OS by turning on the computer with a bootable disc inside (windows vista cd) and does it ask me if I want to boot from it? Or is there something that will prevent it from being this easy?

    I heard several complaints of people being able to boot from an OS CD, but they faced the problem error message "Windows is shutting off due to an error to prevent damage to your computer", that, or "windows does not detect a hard drive" etc. What says I'm not going to face this kind of problem?

    Thanks.

    Please, man. I'm putting my trust in you with this one.

    All I want to do is use an effective wiping program (by burning the ISO file of it to a re-writable CD, if that is possible since I heard somewhere it can be done on a writable CD, not a re-writable...), then re-install an OS using the OS CD, and wala...of course get the drivers later on, but that shouldn't be an issue as it's been done before.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 1,705
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64 ®™
       #18

    Wandering Flame said:
    Will an OS disc format clear any possibility of an identity thief from finding out SAVED USERNAMES AND PASSWORDS on websites?
    Guess not...since this is not a "full" erase by any chance...oh well...I just don't know what I'm going to do...I guess I risk having money stolen.
    I think you're being over paranoid, if you think after a full H.D format and reinstall, someone is going to spend $400 on the chance that they may be able to retrieve your details.

    Wandering Flame said:
    1. Using disc erasing software like DBAN
    I don't know enough about it to answer that.

    Wandering Flame said:
    2. Selling my laptop away after having done a Windows Vista CD format from boot disc, and risk having sensitive information stolen by a douche buying used computers on Amazon.
    Again, after a full H.D format, I the chances of that happening are quite slim to none.
    Wandering Flame said:
    The only downside to this is I'm probably losing up to 150 dollars since I believe I can sell it for up to 550 on Amazon, but I have to look into that and compare prices for people selling inpiron 1545 laptops...
    Get as much as you can for it, and make sure to include in your advert that you've reformatted the H.D and reinstalled the OS.

    I'm not and I.D thief, but if I was, I wouldn't spend hundreds of dollars buying second hand laptops on the off chance that they or may not have left sensitive information on it, especially when I've read on the advert that the H.D has been re-formatted.
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  9. Posts : 51
    win7
       #19

    Thorsen said:
    I would also get Eraser and clean the disc. This goes through an overwrites all of the deleted data so It cant be recovered.

    Eraser | Get Eraser at SourceForge.net
    excellent !
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  10. Posts : 565
    Windows 7 Home Premium x64
       #20

    Wandering Flame said:
    But I just want to be sure that selling it unformatted would be safe.
    For instance, I am planning on making a new admin account on the computer, and from there I am going to delete the CURRENT admin account which I'm using now, by going to control panel > users/accounts > (admin account name) > Delete (would you like to keep account files? Answer: No).

    And the buyer who will recieve the laptop will have access to the newly created account, and there will be no other account on the computer besides maybe the guest account (and another wierd Admin account that is somehow above all and I never used before) and I would have deleted this account via the control panel....am I safe after having done this? Meaning can the buyer still somehow recover private information (saved passwords, files, etc.) after I've deleted my account?

    Thanks.

    Reason I'm asking is, this computer already has the Dell drivers and downloads installed to make it as good as it is...and if I format with a Windows Vista CD, everything will be lost and I have to re-download drivers etc. It just makes the computer more valuable when selling.
    Never sell it like that. Always reformat and reinstall the OS.
      My Computer


 
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