Posted: 4/9/2014 8:12:22 PM EDT
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I have a second, older laptop with W7 ultimate on it. No idea how the hell I got ultimate, don't remember it, it had Vista on it.
I have a recovery disc but can't figure out how to wipe the hard drive and just start over with it. Am I dumb, or missing some CD's? |
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I used tool from a company called Worldstart (no affiliation) called USB 2.0 to SATA/IDE OTB.Model ADA-2020-OTB. It allowed me to remove the hard drive from one of my laptops, connect it to my desktop as if was an external drive. I then used CCleaner and burned off everything that was on the drive. It then overwrote the disk with o's and 1's something like 10 times. That left me with essentially a blank drive with the BIOS in place which allowed me to be able to re-install all of the software and programming as it was when it left the factory. I think the device cost less than $20.
Go to worldstart.com and look in hardware, type in USB........as above and look for the one with Product ID # 3564. Hope this helps. |
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Everyone should have a CD with DBAN on it. (Darik's Boot and Nuke). Toss it in the drive, bott the machine, hit enter, come back in 4 hours, and the machine is super wiped. Handy for getting rid of MIL old computers...
Also, if you are installing the OS again, do yourself a favor, and swap the spinner HD out for a SSD. |
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Quoted:
Before you do that put Belarc Advisor on it and make sure you get the keys for the installed OS and software. http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html This. run the report, print it out so you have the activation key used for previous install. Here's a source for the .iso file to make an install DVD: http://www.w7forums.com/threads/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-image-downloads.12325/ |
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Quoted:
http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html This. run the report, print it out so you have the activation key used for previous install. Here's a source for the .iso file to make an install DVD: http://www.w7forums.com/threads/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-image-downloads.12325/ Quoted:
Quoted:
Before you do that put Belarc Advisor on it and make sure you get the keys for the installed OS and software. http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html This. run the report, print it out so you have the activation key used for previous install. Here's a source for the .iso file to make an install DVD: http://www.w7forums.com/threads/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-image-downloads.12325/ I'll check when I get home in the morning, but that's awesome you may have just saved me. |