Reformating help (2 Viewers)

[muscleman09]

Hi guys, just need some help asap.

I've got a Dell Mini 9, the mini laptop... and im selling it.

Can someone just tell me how to either reformat, or whatever,
basically to DELETE EVERYTHING!

I want it to be at like the "factory settings", as if its just been bought.

Need help asap, cheers!

 

[Andi0390]

I don't really know anything about computers but I have reformatted a fair few in my time.

Generally your laptop comes with a recovery disk, or there is a program on the computer which allows you to burn this disk.

Then you turn of the computer and turn it back on and it does the starting up thing and then at the bottom of the screen it says "hold f11 for startup menu" this may be something else, like a different Function key or 'boot menu' or something. You hold that key and then there should be options you can navigate through using your arrow keys and the 'enter' button.

Then there will be a reformat option, or return to factory options, and you select that and it asks to insert disk or something similar, and gives you the option to return to out of box state. Its slightly different for each brand but thats the gist of it.

 

[muscleman09]

I don't really know anything about computers but I have reformatted a fair few in my time.

Generally your laptop comes with a recovery disk, or there is a program on the computer which allows you to burn this disk.

Then you turn of the computer and turn it back on and it does the starting up thing and then at the bottom of the screen it says "hold f11 for startup menu" this may be something else, like a different Function key or 'boot menu' or something. You hold that key and then there should be options you can navigate through using your arrow keys and the 'enter' button.

Then there will be a reformat option, or return to factory options, and you select that and it asks to insert disk or something similar, and gives you the option to return to out of box state. Its slightly different for each brand but thats the gist of it.

thanks for the help


but the Dell mini Laptop, doesnt have a CD Drive. Its a netbook.

So im kinda lost lol
ive tried google, but everything says use ur CD

In the box for the laptop, theres a CD which says Operation System:Reinstallation CD, its just that theres no point in having this CD or the others the laptop came with, because it doesnt have a CD drive

 

[youngminii]

Get an external CD drive then.

 

[Andi0390]

Well that sucks.

Maybe its built in, like self installed re installation data, or you can use a thumb drive. Or maybe you need an external CD drive. Check you manual that came with it.

 

[muscleman09]

eeek
im not spending 80 bucks on an external harddrive..

well, how can i just delete absolutely off my computer?
anything else?

 

[Gibbatron]

Make a bootable USB drive instead of a CD with the recovery info on it.

Otherwise, you can get rid of most personal stuff by deleting everything in my documents, unistalling any games/software you were using, downloading Cleanup! for Windows and running a thourough cleanup and running virus scan/spyware scans. After that it should be pretty empty.

 

[Gibbatron]

eeek
im not spending 80 bucks on an external harddrive..

well, how can i just delete absolutely off my computer?
anything else?

Oh, and they said external CD drive, not hard drive.

 

[SnowFox]

Oh, and they said external CD drive, not hard drive.

I could suggest just buying a new HDD, replace it, then turn your old one into a external.

 

[L]

delete fucking everything

 

[mcflystargirl]

often netbooks have a recovery partition, look in your manual or something, or you can use a USB to boot from that instead.... google will be your friend in this.

 

[pritnep]

Out of interest why are you selling it? Bad product or don't use it?

 

[vds700]

I could suggest just buying a new HDD, replace it, then turn your old one into a external.

and how would that help, he's still got the problem of reinstalling windows even on a new drive.

Maybe try copying files from the recovery CD onto a USB and try booting from that.

 

[tat01]

someone mentioned that there should be a recovery partition on your hard drive.

basically with company built computers (including laptops/netbooks) you will have a section of the hard drive the is inaccessible whilst in windows. its designed so that you can restore the computer back to the original form when you got it. usually its available as a shortcut within windows... if ur not as fortunate then you'll have to hop into it whilst ur system is booting up.

common names include: recovery mode, restore factory settings, format back to original options. or any combination of these.

the more advanced and not recommended method is to copy a windows CD onto a USB drive and plug it into ur laptop. this will install a generic version of windows onto your computer but not necessarily all the drivers required for your computer. (drivers are software required for individual parts of the computer to interact with itself)

when your computer boots up it'll automatically select something to startup, this includes ur cd drive, hard drive, floppy etc. if you have a USB plugged in, you can tell your computer to boot up using ur USB drive. this must be done usually within the first 10 seconds of powering up.

ok i dont think this makes sense so holla if needs clarification/explaining. prob do it for you if ur in melb and havent sold it already lol

 

[mcflystargirl]

also did your option come with a windows CD, if it did there are many useful utilitys to copy this to a usb and boot from it.

 

[shinji]

Why would they provide a windows cd if the actual netbook didn't have a cd drive?

 

[mcflystargirl]

Why would they provide a windows cd if the actual netbook didn't have a cd drive?

the same reason most do, they did with my netbook because you can get an external DVD drive, and use USB's to boot the recovery DVDs or Windows DVD.

 

[shinji]

quite stupid imo.

Seeing as most, if not all, laptops don't come bundled with the OS cd

 

[mcflystargirl]

quite stupid imo.

Seeing as most, if not all, laptops don't come bundled with the OS cd

if they don't they normally come with a way to burn one, like a recovery disk utility, and this is not always practical on a netbook if you have no DVD drive.

Why is it stupid?

 

[Uncle]

yeah you have an msi wind too?
yeah mine didnt come with a cd/dvd burner but it did come with 2 or 3 recovery CDs.
so i had to purchase an external usb dvd burner.

im going to format my hard drive during the winter break.