Welcome guest. Before posting on our computer help forum, you must register. Click here it's easy and free.

Author Topic: Help! Selling Laptop But Missing Recovery Disks and Software Disks  (Read 3173 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

2y4life

  • Guest


I'm selling my laptop and there are a few people interested in it. The thing is, I no longer have the recovery disks for Windows XP nor do I have my Microsoft Office 2007 CD or the Adobe Photoshop CS3 CD. I had them for a while and lost them when I moved to college. The potential buyers are interested in my laptop because I have Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 as well as Adobe Photoshop CS3. So if I do a complete wipe with DBAN, it will wipe my entire HD clean, correct? Is it possible to wipe certain parts of the hard drive and not others?

Is there a way for me to sell my laptop while keeping Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 and Photoshop on there without compromising my security? I can't reformat or wipe my whole laptop due to missing recovery disks. I know simply deleting everything isn't "safe" but is that enough? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

xavier

  • Guest
Re: Help! Selling Laptop But Missing Recovery Disks and Software Disks
« Reply #1 on: January 23, 2009, 04:58:11 PM »
 1 You can wipe the drive [totally] with software. 2 or you can buy a Windows cd & format the drive, this is not a foolproof wipe like #1. I dont know how important is is to you?

patio

  • Moderator


  • Genius
  • Maud' Dib
  • Thanked: 1769
    • Yes
  • Experience: Beginner
  • OS: Windows 7
Re: Help! Selling Laptop But Missing Recovery Disks and Software Disks
« Reply #2 on: January 23, 2009, 05:28:14 PM »
Sell it without the drive...
They can then install whatever they want on it.
" Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist should have his head examined. "

xavier

  • Guest
Re: Help! Selling Laptop But Missing Recovery Disks and Software Disks
« Reply #3 on: January 23, 2009, 06:01:52 PM »
thats easy

truenorth



    Guru

    Thanked: 253
    Re: Help! Selling Laptop But Missing Recovery Disks and Software Disks
    « Reply #4 on: January 24, 2009, 02:45:32 PM »
    2y4life, Of course the downside of Patio's otherwise very good suggestion is that were i the buyer and " The potential buyers are interested in my laptop because I have Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 as well as Adobe Photoshop CS3." i would drastically lose interest if that which i desired principally was not there. truenorth

    Bromide



      Beginner

      Thanked: 4
      • Experience: Familiar
      • OS: Windows 7
      Re: Help! Selling Laptop But Missing Recovery Disks and Software Disks
      « Reply #5 on: January 27, 2009, 07:59:33 PM »
      It’s theoretically possible to hand select and destroy files that might hold personal data, but the way thing are scatters around you need an expert [which I am not] to locate everything.

      You could start with CCleaner, set it for Options> Settings> Secure Deletion, 7 passes, select every checkbox in the cleaner and wipe all the normal user tracks. Do the same with the registry cleaner.

      Revo Uninstaller has a number of tools designed to cover one’s tracks, including one to shred previously deleted files.  It also has an “Unrecoverable Delete” function. Use it to shred your entire user folder, if possible. [Would you have to log in as another Admin to do that?]

      Make sure you have Windows Explorer set to show hidden files and folder as you look around for files to shred. Shred the hibernation files, C:\hiberfil.sys, and the page files, C:\pagefile.sys. They contain records of past activity.

      There may be lots more you would have to do. I don’t know. Like I say, I’m no expert. It all depends how likely the buyer is to examine the drive and how damaging any personal information would be if discovered.