Deleting a Hard Drive on a laptop that wont boot up?

Forums › Laptops and mobile computers › Deleting a Hard Drive on a laptop that wont boot up?

Interslice

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#139450 9-Feb-2014 20:53

Hi

My laptop died on me a while ago. It is apparently a motherboard failure according to the beeps at start up. I have decide that it will be too costly for me to get this fixed but since it was a very expensive laptop I will try and sell it as is. The only thing is I had some photos and stuff stored on the hard drive that I would rather have removed before I sell it. Nothing dodgy just family and stuff haha. So my question is... is there some way to delete the contents of the hard drive without being able to power the laptop on somehow? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Sideface

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#982954 9-Feb-2014 21:01

Who is going to buy a dead laptop, at any price?
Salvage the hard drive and RAM, and throw away the rest.
It's quite possible that all your data is intact on the HDD - you may as well save your data :)

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coffeebaron

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#982956 9-Feb-2014 21:04

Remove drive from laptop
Put into another PC
Secure wipe

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#982957 9-Feb-2014 21:08

If it won't boot anything then you will have to remove the hard drive before you sell it. Will it boot a linux or windows dvd from the optical drive? Also you should get a quote for repair. It might look different to an experienced person.

Interslice

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Master Geek
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#982958 9-Feb-2014 21:09

Sideface: Who is going to buy a dead laptop, at any price?
Salvage the hard drive and RAM, and throw away the rest.
It's quite possible that all your data is intact on the HDD - you may as well save your data :)

Thing is it was a $3000 gaming laptop so Im thinking someone might pay something for it on Trade me maybe..

True might have to have a look at taking the hard drive out

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#982966 9-Feb-2014 21:31

try CGA?

Interslice

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#982984 9-Feb-2014 21:36

joker97: try CGA?

Umm CGA?

Consumer Guarantees Act? Im not sure what CGA is haha

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#982988 9-Feb-2014 21:40

Interslice:
Sideface: Who is going to buy a dead laptop, at any price?
Salvage the hard drive and RAM, and throw away the rest.
It's quite possible that all your data is intact on the HDD - you may as well save your data :)

Thing is it was a $3000 gaming laptop so Im thinking someone might pay something for it on Trade me maybe..
True might have to have a look at taking the hard drive out

If the laptop is more than 3 years old, it is almost worthless, regardless of its original price, even in working condition.
Parts are hard/impossible to find after 3 years.
If it is younger than 3 years, it will be very expensive to repair.
Whatever you do, don't throw it out without removing the HDD - and your data - first.

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#983222 10-Feb-2014 11:14

Take it to a laptop repair specialist (not a PC Repair shop)
They can do motherboard repairs to a component level (chipset replacement etc) , at reasonable prices.
You may be able to get it fixed for $100-$300

If it isnt worth spending that on, its junk & throw it away.
a dead lappy is still a worthless dead lappy, no matter how much it initially cost

xpd

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#983232 10-Feb-2014 11:32

I disagree with the "throw away" attitude - every faulty laptop Ive put on TradeMe has usually sold for a decent amount, mainly because people wants the parts to repair their own - keys from the keyboard, CD drive, screen, etc etc. Dosent cost anything to put it on TM for a couple of weeks and may get a decent amount for it. If no interest after a couple of weeks, then look at throwing it in the bin.

XPD / Gavin

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#983241 10-Feb-2014 11:51

It's funny but selling the individual parts often gets much more return than as a whole, even if it works!

Interslice

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#983649 10-Feb-2014 20:42

Cheers for all the advise guys. Ive decide I will get a quote on what it will take to fix it, but if it is too expensive then I have found out that its actually quite easy to remove the hard drive and put it into an enclosure. After that should be easy to delete what I want. Thanks