Personally I'd remove the drive and use a physical destruction method on it. Without the drive the laptop is useless. If doubly paranoid you could pull the memory too.
Jerry Whitteridge Sr Manager Managed Services jerry.whitteri...@albertsons.com 480 578 7889 -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> On Behalf Of Schmitt, Michael Sent: Friday, November 1, 2024 12:10 PM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: EXTERNAL Email: Re: OFF TOPIC - DELETING ALL FILES SOFTWARE FROM A LAPTOP Questions: 1. What is the exact model? 2. Does it have an OS on it? Which one? 3. Does it boot? 4. Does it have a CD-ROM drive? If not, do you have an external CD-ROM drive? 5. Do you have a USB flash drive? 6. Is this for personal use, vs. business? Reason for the questions: 1. Some computers have a drive erase function built into the BIOS. For example, an HP Zbook had it, but the ThinkPad I'm using does not 2. Some versions of Windows have an erase-everything function built in. 3 - 5. Determines options for erasing by booting from something. 6. Some software is only free for personal use. I used to use Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN), https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://dban.org/__;!!K1aXqncla1X7G90AkdLmCg!sEbSlIqvnBSLQhc4xYgFu6EA-RUJP_psEqU2nL0VeZY2eRTLK1Zx-hcNDmvH8uLuMnW7sw-cYECEL7bwCinM5MnDS_e6c8btLS8$ But now it is only for personal use Last erase I've done is via BIOS and via Windows 10. Oh, and I pulled one drive, put it in an enclosure, hooked it up to another computer and erased. -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> On Behalf Of willie bunter Sent: Friday, November 1, 2024 12:57 PM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: OFF TOPIC - DELETING ALL FILES SOFTWARE FROM A LAPTOP Good Day To All, Can anybody suggest how I can delete all the files, software etc. from an old laptop before I scrap it? The laptop in question is a DELL VISTA. I asked the experts at DELL but they couldn't tell me because of a lack of documentation. Thanks. Willie ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ________________________________ Warning: All e-mail sent to this address will be received by the corporate e-mail system, and is subject to archival and review by someone other than the recipient. This e-mail may contain proprietary information and is intended only for the use of the intended recipient(s). If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient(s), you are notified that you have received this message in error and that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately. ________________________________ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
