Dante_Lockhart Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 I’ve got an ooold laptop that’s out of its life span now and before I sent it to be recycled I was wanting to make sure all my docs and stuff were completely removed. I’ve deleted everything manually but I’d like to do a factory reset too, however I’m struggling to see how without the windows discs. Any idea? Everyone keeps saying system restore but the furthest back is 2015 and it’ll have everything still there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tegis Posted June 4, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted June 4, 2020 1 hour ago, Dante_Lockhart said: I’ve got an ooold laptop that’s out of its life span now and before I sent it to be recycled I was wanting to make sure all my docs and stuff were completely removed. I’ve deleted everything manually but I’d like to do a factory reset too, however I’m struggling to see how without the windows discs. Any idea? Everyone keeps saying system restore but the furthest back is 2015 and it’ll have everything still there. Is it a windows 10? Can you follow the "Remove everything" step if that's the case? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted June 4, 2020 Moderator Share Posted June 4, 2020 1 hour ago, Dante_Lockhart said: old laptop that’s out of its life span now and before I sent it to be recycled I was wanting to make sure all my docs and stuff were completely removed Not quite what you asked, but you can take the hard Drive out (youtubes wil ltell you how) , keep it, use it as a back up storage device for a new computer (by buying a cheap USB to SATA or IDE etc. as appropriate Adaptor Cable from the internet). Or you could download linux onto a USB drive, and then use Linux to wipe the hard drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante_Lockhart Posted June 4, 2020 Author Share Posted June 4, 2020 It’s windows 7 so no erase button or owt. Might take the hdd out like you said. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted June 4, 2020 Administrator Share Posted June 4, 2020 2 hours ago, Dante_Lockhart said: It’s windows 7 so no erase button or owt. Might take the hdd out like you said. Cheers Take out the HDD. Apply hammer. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slovenian Posted June 6, 2020 Share Posted June 6, 2020 i can recommend using dban for such operations Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tayls Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 (edited) Yea we DBAN any work laptops we give to our electrical waste disposal people. For my old personal laptop I took out the HDD and shattered the discs. I then decided I wanted to take a proper look inside the machine and subsequently decided to break everything else as well for good measure... it’s actually quite satisfying... Edited June 7, 2020 by Tayls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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