Securely wipe laptop

If you try and delete it and retain the OS then it can be restored.
Maybe the best thing to do is make a backup CD (or USB) also taking note of the auth key details - so that it can be restored - then dban the whole thing, wipe it all clean - then restore to default.
 
So is my disk encrypted?
 

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Mottie said:
Does anyone know of iPads can be used for those who are home schooling or must they be laptops? I have an unused 2nd gen 3G one at work and a lady that works with Mrs Mottie has two kids arguing over the one laptop. If they can be used I was going to ask Mrs Mottie to ask her if she wants it for her kids or is it just too old and clunky for that?
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Apparently teachers much prefer laptops if possible but an iPad is massively better than nothing, so I'd say your offer would be both helpful and useful.

To check, see if you can join a zoom call. If it can do that then that's half the battle.
 
You have a recovery partition.
This suggests you have a recovery option available to you.
You can look into restoring this once C: has been dban'd
 
JohnD said:
on a related point, I have a Windows 10 laptop, and I can't unlock windows. I want to copy photos off it. Can I read the disk if I put it as a slave drive in my PC?
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I've done this in the past (Last Year).
Do you have or did you create for yourself a 'Recovery Drive'? You will need that to 'break' the password.
Firstly make yourself a Linux 'Live' USB stick (I suggest Ubuntu)and obtain an external storage system. Once you have those start the laptop and press the F2 key (or the key that lets in to the laptop setup). Change the boot sequence to 'look' at the USB ports first.
Then power down the laptop, plug the USB stick in and power up the laptop. It will (should) now start with a Linux desktop.
Open the file manager, plug the external storage in and then copy all your files across.

Once that is done switch the machine off remove the external drive.

Search on the web for resetting Win10 logon Password.

follow those instructions
 
Going back to my first post, what is the link between my recovery partitions and wiping the laptop securely? What are the three partitions for? This is all new stuff to me but I'm very interested in it all. In the event of a major crash, how would I use those partitions?
 
All I will say is the only way to absolutely ensure that your "sensitive" information is is not accessable is to remove the old hard drive whack a big nail through the platter and buy a another hard drive and install Windows on that. Even I could get information off a wiped hard drive using proprietary recovery software. Hard drives are reasonably cheap and Windows supplies an easy to use Windows 10 ISO...........https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10
 
Harry Bloomfield said:
Licence purchased required though.
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The computer will probably already have one, you'll just need to re-enter it again, or in some cases Microsoft are smart enough to automatically use a previous one that you've already paid for.
 
My friend just had a new SSD installed plus a new version of W10. The company that did the work charged £270 but that included copying his data over. The lad I'm giving it to can get MS 365 from school apparently so no extra software will be needed. I might ask them for a quote. His mum will pay if it's not too much.
 
I'd say Ccleaner free space erase with 3 or 7 passes (preferable) is the best option I can think of for leaving current OS/Office/Norton intact.

The preferable method would be a full disk erasure using DBAN (or Killdisk which I use at work) to the old DoD 3-pass standards or better. That would of course leave you needing to recover the OS and software afterwards, assuming you have recovery media.

Please note that if the machine has an SSD then none of these are actually valid erasure methods, you'll need to execute the secure erasure functionality which is normally rendered available by the companion app provided by the SSD vendor. Again that's a full drive wipe.
 
I don't know for certain, but in JohnD's case, you'll still need the volume recovery (bitlocker) key.
 
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