Restoring laptop to factory settings without Windows disk

djmsemcgrath

My brother has a Sony laptop and he is selling it on eBay. He wants to get all his stuff off it to ensure there's no trace of his activity or personal details, etc. Ideally, restoring to factory settings would be ideal, so the new user can set it up from scratch themselves.

However, he wasn't supplied with a Windows disk, he didn't make a recovery CD, and even more clever, he uninstalled the Sony VAIO Recovery Centre program from the Control Panel, so he can't use that. I've been searching the Sony website to see if the Recovery program is downloadable on their Drivers and Programs section but it's not. Everything else is, except that, which is annoying.

There appears to be a Recovery Partition of around 10Gb, but this appears to be inaccessible. I only saw it when I looked in the Disk Management window.

I've heard I can restore a computer by pressing F9 or Alt+F9 when it loads, but that didn't work.

I have moved all his files to an external hard drive, and uninstalled all his programs, as well as clearing the internet cache and history. It looks reasonably clear, but obviously all the User folders are still called his name, and no doubt there's loads of "hidden" files in folders like Application Data or the hidden Windows folders.


For reference, it's Windows 7.

a) How can I restore this laptop back to factory settings - are there any freeware programs that will do it?

b) If not possible, how can I remove all trace of him? If I create a new User profile called Default, and then remove his main profile, will that delete all personal data?

c) If I don't use a proper restoration program, how big a risk is it to sell? Is it possible for people to restore deleted data and potentially steal his identity? If all the obvious data like the internet history and passwords have been removed, how risky is the fragments of data left behind?

d) How illegal would it be to download a image file of a Windows 7 CD from a torrent website, and then use that to restore the laptop? Bearing in mind the laptop was bought legally, and the version of Windows he's using is legal. Would downloading something he owns already for the purpose of protecting his identity prior to a sale be allowed, or is this a strict no-no?


Thanks in advance.

closed

Alt F10?

what does the sony website say for your model?

ccleaner with wipe free space ticked will stop anyone recovering anything deleted after doing a factory restore

djmsemcgrath

The Sony website says to use the Recovery program :undecided I don't think it expected it to be deleted.

I'll try Alt F10 when I get home later, and report back.

I've searched in Google but everytime I mention it's a Sony, all the websites say to use the Recovery program.


I could do a force delete everything using CCleaner, but wouldnt this make the hard drive basically useless? The buyer will get it, turn it on, and it won't do anything? Unless they happen to have a Windows CD, it'll be a useless laptop to them.

I was hoping to wipe the hard drive in such a way that it left a clean version of Windows on it for the next person to use!

djmsemcgrath

I have also tried using the System Restore function built into Windows, hoping there would be a restore point on the day the laptop was bought, but only the last 5 restore points are kept.

It shouldn't be this tricky lol!

debitcardmayhem

As its Win 7 he should be able to uninstall all of his Apps , Remove all his personal data, then Create a System Rescue disk, then use win7 backup to do full system backup, and then wipe the HD and restore from the rescue disk.

Look here http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/backup-and-restore

djmsemcgrath

Thanks, that's a useful link. I'll have a go at that tonight and report back if it was successful.

MoneySavingUser

do this too to remove traces: http://eraser.heidi.ie/

djmsemcgrath

Do you reckon if I follow the steps below, my personal data will be secure enough?

- Uninstall all my programs.
- Move my files off.
- Clear the internet history, cache and temporary files.
- Create a new blank Windows profile and delete my main one, thereby deleting all data associated with it.
- Run the Eraser tool to remove traces of deleted files.

Will that be good enough, you think?

Also, does anyone know what Amazon's policy is on returned laptops? Do they wipe the drive themselves?