New laptop - erasing old laptops hard drive

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Markisthebest

20 posts

Geek

#55154 24-Dec-2009 23:18

Kia ora, and a Merry Christmas to all of Geekzone.

On the morning of the boxing day sales I am planning to purchase a new laptop.

I will have no need for my current one, which apart from not meeting my requirements spec-wise is in perfect condition.
So I would like to move all my files, movies, games to my portable hardrive. Delete everything else on the hard drive and reinstall windows etc.

It would be great if anyone here is not to busy and would like to talk me through the process. Their help would be much appreciated!

Once again, thank you!

And have a great Christmas :)

Ragnor

8085 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#285083 25-Dec-2009 01:01

What make and model is it? Do you have the install media (dvd/cd) for the version of Windows that came with the laptop?

Assuming you have install media for windows that came with it and the serial (probably on a sticker on the bottom of the machine) the basic steps are:

1: Run something like http://www.lavalys.com/ to identify the chipset and hardware of the laptop this should help you with tracking down drivers.

2: Find additional drivers (network, sound, chipset etc) you need, usually from the manufacturers website (can be tough for older models)

3: Use something like http://www.dban.org/ to do a secure erase of the hard drive so you can be reasonable sure no personal information can be recovered (undeleted) from the disk

4: Install Windows from the install media using the serial that came with the machine, fairly straight forward just follow the wizard/prompts.

5: Install all the service packs and patches so it's upto date.

6: Install those additional drivers you found earlier, for devices windows doesn't have inbuilt drivers for.

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Markisthebest

20 posts

Geek

#285086 25-Dec-2009 01:15

Awesome, thanks mate!

Its a HP Pavilion dv8000

I know I found it hard finding drivers about 2 years ago when I upgraded it to vista.. I didn't do a complete clean install though. Just installed over top of XP.

Can you help me find my drivers? I have a Geforce Go 7600 as my graphics card.

Markisthebest

20 posts

Geek

#285087 25-Dec-2009 01:18

Is there some free software similar to the http://www.lavalys.com

Only I'm not keen to purchase anything that I won't be using on a regular basis.

Ragnor

8085 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#285089 25-Dec-2009 01:30

I think Everest has a trial but there's also many others, eg:

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

Markisthebest

20 posts

Geek

#285090 25-Dec-2009 01:46

Do you know where I can find a driver for the Go 7600... on the hp website it only links to the 7300 and soemthing else from memory.