Can I completely wipe my laptop?

kingtut

Hi,

I have a 5/6 year old laptop that has almost ground to a halt, well not quite but it is very slow.

Is there any programme out there that I can use to completely wipe the contents of my laptop and in essence return it to factory defaults - deleting absolutely everything on it? I reckon this would give it a new life! Well for a while at least!! I can't afford a new one write now

I have all my music, photos and personal files etc backed up onto an external hard-drive.

Oh and my cd drive doesn't work anymore so I am looking for something that I could run from a USB key preferably...

Thanks in advance!

leninbenjamin

kingtut wrote: »

Hi,

I have a 5/6 year old laptop that has almost ground to a halt, well not quite but it is very slow.

Is there any programme out there that I can use to completely wipe the contents of my laptop and in essence return it to factory defaults - deleting absolutely everything on it? I reckon this would give it a new life! Well for a while at least!! I can't afford a new one write now

I have all my music, photos and personal files etc backed up onto an external hard-drive.

Oh and my cd drive doesn't work anymore so I am looking for something that I could run from a USB key preferably...

Thanks in advance!

reinstall the operating system. You should have disks from the manufacturer lying around somewhere, you just stick it in the optical drive, format and then follow the onscreen instructions. this will wipe absolutely everything though, so back up important files to an external and/or CD/DVDs.

Hou1ie

Not wanting to be too pedantic - but the laptop you got 4-5 years ago didn't have "nothing on it". Assuning it was a windows machine it had, well, windows installed. Plus potentially a whole host of other stuff depending on who you bought it from.
You could have a hunt around for what ever disks were supplied with it (if you still have them) and see if you can re-install the operating system which is probably what you are looking for...

Hou1ie

Sorry, just noticed you said your CD drive is hosed.....
That makes things a bit more complicated....
First thing would be to sort it out, see if its really hosed or whether its just something that got messed up in the OS..
Put a bootable CD into it and fire it up and see how far it gets (make sure that BIOS says it boots from CD first)

kingtut

leninbenjamin wrote: »

reinstall the operating system. You should have disks from the manufacturer lying around somewhere, you just stick it in the optical drive, format and then follow the onscreen instructions. this will wipe absolutely everything though, so back up important files to an external and/or CD/DVDs.

I backed everything up to an external hard-drive, and as I mentioned my cd drive is broken so I need the software on a USB...do you think I could use another persons PC to copy the software on to a usb stick and then change the boot order?

Hou1ie wrote: »

Not wanting to be too pedantic - but the laptop you got 4-5 years ago didn't have "nothing on it". Assuning it was a windows machine it had, well, windows installed. Plus potentially a whole host of other stuff depending on who you bought it from.
You could have a hunt around for what ever disks were supplied with it (if you still have them) and see if you can re-install the operating system which is probably what you are looking for...

Well yes ok it had windows etc on it so what I want to be more specific is to have the laptop returned to 'shop ready' status

kingtut

Hou1ie wrote: »

Sorry, just noticed you said your CD drive is hosed.....
That makes things a bit more complicated....
First thing would be to sort it out, see if its really hosed or whether its just something that got messed up in the OS..
Put a bootable CD into it and fire it up and see how far it gets (make sure that BIOS says it boots from CD first)

When I put a CD in it does not recognise it....just makes a clicking noise...the cd drive icon is there when i go to 'my computer' though....

Hou1ie

What type/manufacturer laptop is it? Do you have a windows instalation cd?

kingtut

It is an Acer, not sure of model but I can get it later when I am home.

Yes I have 1/2 restore CDs...

paulgrogan.eu

kingtut wrote: »

When I put a CD in it does not recognise it....just makes a clicking noise...the cd drive icon is there when i go to 'my computer' though....

Hi there,

As the lads have mentioned already, to wipe the machine you need to boot the laptop from an operating system cd. This will prompt you to boot from the cd and then into a blue screen giving you options to format and install a new version of windows.

The fact that your CD drive is knackered makes it tricky. I would suggest looking on ebay/gumtree for a replacement or external cd drive. You should be able to get one cheap enough.

If you do that feel free to PM me and I can send you some more steps on how to proceed.



Rgds,

Paul

leninbenjamin

kingtut wrote: »

I backed everything up to an external hard-drive, and as I mentioned my cd drive is broken so I need the software on a USB...do you think I could use another persons PC to copy the software on to a usb stick and then change the boot order?

sorry, didn't see that bit.

You can't just copy the XP cd to the USB, it has be modified slightly in order to make it bootable. It is still possible (here's a guide), however it's a bit more complicated and some older PCs won't let you boot from USB so you'd need to check your model allows you to.

Hou1ie

I found something about restoring an ACER laptop to factory defaults (posted at end) ....but obviosuly your snookered with the cd drive. Copying the windows install to a USB (if thats what you were suggesting) - I really can't see that working ...but I stand to be corrected.
If I were you I'd replace the CD drive and then do the following.....

1 Ensure all Data is backed up, all data will be deleted.
2 Please also ensure that all USB storage devices are removed before starting the recovery process
3 Restart machine
4 When your unit switches back on, wait for the ACER screen then hold down alt & tap f10 repeatedly..
5 Please wait a moment until prompted, -How would you like to restore?-
6 Please select –Restore system to factory default-
7 Enter your defined password or enter six zeros ‘000000’
8 Click ok
9 Please wait until process completed, this will take 45min – 1hour

Hou1ie

I just followed the link that leninbenjamin posted and I consider myself corrected.....

kingtut

Thanks to everyone who replied to my posting!

I'll try out your recommendations over the weekend and let you know how I get on, have to find my USB key first and a PC that I can borrow!!

leninbenjamin

kingtut wrote: »

I'll try out your recommendations over the weekend and let you know how I get on, have to find my USB key first and a PC that I can borrow!!

btw, in order to make the bootable USB install it should be done with an XP machine. I think Vista can cause corruptions.

consultech