Trying to sell M170

Hey everyone. Im thinking about selling my XPS M170. The problem is, i bought my laptop 3 years ago off of ebay, so needless to say it came with NO OS disc or restore disc or any kind of disc. So my question is how do i go about wiping all the junk files and any other files that really shouldnt be there. I uninstalled all the software i had once installed. I know i should format the hard drive but with no restore disc or OS disc i dont know what to do. Is there a way of creating a factory restore disc. Any help would be great. Thanks.

 

are there any partitions in the hard drive? sometimes manufacturers put the recovery software on a hidden partition... try looking for it by right clicking the computer icon and click on manage, then click on storage and try to find a partition... usually there are about 20 GB. thats all i can think of at the moment... GOOD LUCK!

 

no. unfortunately whoever i bought it from either deleted the partition after formatting or something happened because its not there, that was the first thing i looked for.

 

You could always install Windows 7 RC 32-bit on it... Not sure if it will run 100%. When you run the installer you are given options to delete the existing partition and create a new one and format it prior to install.

 

While it's not a bad idea to (in a pinch) to use a downloadable Win7 DVD to delete the existing partitions and format the drive, I don't think it'd be wise to actually try and sell the notebook with Windows 7 installed. I guarantee that such a thing would be a major licensing violation. It's one thing if it's just a private transaction with a friend, but no way should he put the thing on ebay or somewhere loaded with Windows 7. I know it's "free" but I'm pretty sure that MS would take a big sad frown to a third party distributing their OS in any way, let alone a for-profit transaction.

To the OP. Sounds to me like you'll not be able to sell that thing with any OS at all installed, unless you can rustle up the original licensed OS. That's not looking likely. All you need is to locate an XP or Vista (or yes, Windows 7) DVD and use that to wipe the drive. Just don't complete the OS install. Then offer the notebook for sale sans OS.

 

Yeah i guess ill have to wipe the drive and sell with no OS. But really, how much of a issue would it be if i just uninstalled all the software, ran a few registry cleaners, and anti virus software. Would that pretty much be safe for me to sell it. I mean its a "gaming laptop" so thats what it was used for mainly, and some internet browsing of course.

 

Assuming that the OS that's on it is the original licensed OS (and I take you've no reason to believe that it's not) then there's certainly no issue with selling it like that. The only questions would be (a) how solid is the current install, ie, is it running smoothly, and (b) how comfortable are you that you've gotten any personal stuff stripped off?

I'd just make sure to let the buyer know that while it's coming with an OS installed, there's no re-install media with it. I doubt it'll be an issue. Most guys buying used laptops on ebay (or a similar outlet) probably have the means to install a fresh OS anyway.

 

so i went to the dell website as a final resort to figure it out,though i shouldve gone there in the beginning, and it turns out that you can order 1 disc of drivers, and back up software that originally came with the laptop when purchased. Lets hope it all goes well. i will post contents of package when it arrives. thanks everyone for your help.