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    Getting ready to sell my M9700. What steps should I take to ensure all of my personal info is gone?

    Discussion in 'Alienware Area-51/Aurora and Legacy Systems' started by myemerald, Jun 21, 2015.

  1. myemerald

    myemerald Notebook Enthusiast

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    I would appreciate suggestions on what to leave on the computer (i.e. Win 7, any other programs), but more importantly what to remove. I want to be sure there is no trace of me, or my identity left on it when it leaves my hands.

    What do you all do if and when you sell?

    Thanks in advance for your suggestions! :vbthumbsup:
     
    myemerald, Jun 21, 2015
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  2. nightingale

    nightingale Notebook Evangelist

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    Probably easiest way to do this is to just sell the laptop without a harddrive. Granted, the m9700 is quite old so most likely selling it with or without a HDD will not affect the auction.
     
    nightingale, Jun 21, 2015
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  3. myemerald

    myemerald Notebook Enthusiast

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    Is it fairly safe to assume that whoever buys it, will be buying it for parts anyway? I've seen some listed without HDD and they seem to sell just fine. I thought that would be a drawback. Maybe not.
     
    myemerald, Jun 21, 2015
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  4. nightingale

    nightingale Notebook Evangelist

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    I wouldnt necessarily say they are buying it for parts, some might be for nostalgic value or some such, but i imagine most people who are into buying this sort of level of computers are aware of things like privacy, and respect the sellers' decisions to not include the harddrive, as well as harddrives or ssd's these days arent that expensive anyway so it isnt that much of a hassle to buy a laptop and then get a HDD anyway.
    I doubt it would be a drawback though. Mostly either parts or nostalgic value so its all good.
     
    nightingale, Jun 22, 2015
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  5. myemerald

    myemerald Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thank you so much! :)
     
    myemerald, Jun 22, 2015
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  6. protivakid

    protivakid Notebook Evangelist

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    This^ Take it out and destroy it yourself if you don't need it. It's probably a small old cheap drive that won't last much longer anyhow. Shouldn't change sale much at all. Perhaps show the unit running and mention you are taking the drive out but wanted to show the laptop does work.
     
    protivakid, Jun 23, 2015
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  7. myemerald

    myemerald Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thank you! Stupid question, but is anything saved in the RAM after the HDD is gone? There aren't any network connections or stuff like that that need to be deleted right? As long as the HDD is gone, there is nothing at all left of my information. Correct?
     
    myemerald, Jun 23, 2015
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  8. protivakid

    protivakid Notebook Evangelist

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    Ram only holds information when it has power. As soon as you take away the power source the information in there is gone. You only need to worry about the hard drive.
     
    protivakid, Jun 24, 2015
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  9. myemerald

    myemerald Notebook Enthusiast

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    Oh, DUH! I knew that! My brain is not functioning properly...LOL thank you, sorry about that dumb question.
     
    myemerald, Jun 24, 2015
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  10. kosti

    kosti Notebook Virtuoso

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    Download Hiren's BootCD (Google it)
    Run the Boot CD
    Go to Disk Tools
    Choose one of the many apps that secure erase hard drives. Depending on the level of erasing, this could take several hours to complete.
    Reinstall Windows

    The M9700 was my first Alienware. PM me if you still have it.
     
    kosti, Sep 12, 2015
    #10