Hard drive partition questions

pbcopter said:

I guess my answers didn't help.

Why would you say such a thing???

Gfr92y

Perhaps instead of sarcasm, you tried a little empathy...

No, the accident was not bad at all.

Thanks for asking!

Gfr92y

DavidE said:

gfr92y said:

(This was a company laptop that was sold or given to a family member who used it for a while before selling it to me.)

I would not use/trust a used PC install, no telling what is on it, I would nuke and clean install.

No matter how well you know and trust those folks, they may have let others use the PC and did "who knows what", without the owner understanding the risk.

DavedE,

Your advice is spot on!

Leading up to the sale of the laptop to me and during the sale, local fireman who was selling me the laptop was absolutely delightful. After the sale, he certainly was not the same person he was before.

When he was nice as pie, I would have discounted your warning, but having seen how he changed, not listening to you could have been a problem.

Thanks, again.

Gfr92y

It was not sarcasm. Just a honest response for no acknowledgement, good or bad, to a volunteer effort to answer your questions and a long day.

EDIT: I apologize, for whatever reason, I did not see your response. As I said, it has been a long day.

RolandJS said:

"I have a need to wiping of my hard drive with data destruction similar to that of Acronis DiskCleanser or DBAN. That is, of course, until someone more knowledgeable than me explains why I should do something different." Acronis DiskCleanser is not free, it's a 15-day-trial version. I downloaded it, maybe can test before time's up. :)

RolandJS,

That was very thoughtful of you.

My real concern is my desktop with a client's data that really needs to be erased.

Regarding the laptop, I do not think any nefarious action took place, but poor "hygiene" while owning the laptop and not properly preparing the laptop are certainly two concerns. This is also compounded by my suspicion that their may be a problem with the product key.

Now, with all of that on the table, is doing a clean install on the laptop sufficient or should I wipe the drive before installing the software.

Gfr92y

PS... If I am beginning to make spelling or grammatical errors, I am sure it has something to do with working since about 2 a.m. on this and two other thread (related to other issues on other computers).

pbcopter said:

It was not sarcasm. Just a honest response for no acknowledgement, good or bad, to a volunteer effort to answer your questions and a long day.

EDIT: I apologize, for whatever reason, I did not see your response. As I said, it has been a long day.

Thanks, but we got this from here.

gfr92y said:

DavidE said:

gfr92y said:

(This was a company laptop that was sold or given to a family member who used it for a while before selling it to me.)

I would not use/trust a used PC install, no telling what is on it, I would nuke and clean install.

No matter how well you know and trust those folks, they may have let others use the PC and did "who knows what", without the owner understanding the risk.

DavedE,

Your advice is spot on!

Leading up to the sale of the laptop to me and during the sale, local fireman who was selling me the laptop was absolutely delightful. After the sale, he certainly was not the same person he was before.

When he was nice as pie, I would have discounted your warning, but having seen how he changed, not listening to you could have been a problem.

Thanks, again.

Gfr92y

DavidE,

Please see my last post to Roland... I think I responded to him regarding an issue you raised.

Gfr92y

gfr92y said:

This is also compounded by my suspicion that their may be a problem with the product key.

Now, with all of that on the table, is doing a clean install on the laptop sufficient or should I wipe the drive before installing the software.

Do you have a Win 7 COA sticker with a readable license key on the laptop?
It might be in the battery compartment.
You will need that for a clean install, or have to purchase a new license.



Don't wipe or re-install Windows before knowing if you have a COA sticker/license key.

You can use a tool that Wipes the Hard Drive, and then do a clean install of Windows.
Minitool Partition Wizard has this tool/option.
I use Partition Wizard for Disk Management, but i never used the "Wipe Disk" option.
I don't know if it's the best tool.

Here's a link to the free bootable CD download:
Bootable Partition Manger | MiniTool Partition Wizard Bootable Edition

Here is screen print snip from the PW Help