PCWorld Forums

PCWorld Forums: How To Wipe Out Vista Laptop For New Install - PCWorld Forums

Jump to content

Page 1 of 1
  • You cannot start a new topic
  • You cannot reply to this topic

How To Wipe Out Vista Laptop For New Install

#1 User is offline   Ronnn 

  • Newbie
  • Pip
  • Group: Members
  • Posts: 3
  • Joined: 13-December 10

Posted 31 December 2011 - 07:47 AM

I have a dell laptop, about 5 years old, vista. I want to completely wipe it out and reinstall vista. How can i do a format on the hard drive or what is the way to do this?
thanks,

Ron
0

#2 User is offline   compnovo 

  • Expert
  • PipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Group: Members
  • Posts: 2,877
  • Joined: 18-October 09
  • Location:Pacific Northwest

Posted 31 December 2011 - 08:26 AM

View PostRonnn, on 31 December 2011 - 07:47 AM, said:

I have a dell laptop, about 5 years old, vista. I want to completely wipe it out and reinstall vista. How can i do a format on the hard drive or what is the way to do this?
thanks,

Ron

Hi Ron,
If you have the Vista disc all you need to do is boot to the disc and perform a "Custom" install. That will wipe the drive and do a clean install.
If your laptop has a recovery partition (which I don't think a five-year-old Dell has, but I'm not sure), you can boot to it when the computer is starting and it will be taken back to factory fresh condition, just follow the prompts.
Desktop: Core i5 3570K - Biostar Z77 Board - Corsair H80 Cooler - 250GB Samsung 840 SSD - 1TB Seagate Hybrid HDD - Galaxy GTX660 GC - 16GB G.Skill 1333 - Corsair Carbide 200R - Win8 Pro 64-bit w/WMC
Media Center: Core i3 3220 - Biostar H61 Board - 128GB Plextor SSD - 1TB Samsung HDD - Radeon 4350 - 8GB G.Skill 1333 - Apex DM-387 - Win7 HP 64-bit
0

#3 User is offline   Ronnn 

  • Newbie
  • Pip
  • Group: Members
  • Posts: 3
  • Joined: 13-December 10

Posted 31 December 2011 - 12:55 PM

thank you, i have the disk so it should go fine
0

#4 User is offline   orlbuckeye 

  • Senior Member
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • Group: Members
  • Posts: 553
  • Joined: 02-May 07

Posted 11 January 2012 - 11:45 AM

View PostRonnn, on 31 December 2011 - 07:47 AM, said:

I have a dell laptop, about 5 years old, vista. I want to completely wipe it out and reinstall vista. How can i do a format on the hard drive or what is the way to do this?
thanks,

Ron


Do you have a system restore disk from Dell or a MS Windows Vista disk?
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 32GB with Ice Cream Sandwich
Samsung Galaxy SIII - AT&T 16 GB with 32 SSD GB

[A} Acer Aspire V5-571P-6648
Intel® 2nd Generation Core™ i3
8 GB DDR3 1066 RAM will upgrade to 8GB soon
High-definition widescreen 15.6" LED-backlit with multitouch support (1366 x 768)
500 GB SATA (5400 rpm)
Intel® HD Graphics 3000 128 MB
Blacklit Keyboard
5.5 pounds
Windows 8 Pro

Acer Aspire AS8950G-9839
Intel Core i7 2630QM (2.0GHZ) 16 GB DDR3 1066 RAM
18.4" (1920 x 1080)
240 GB OCZ Agility SSD, 750 GB 5400 RPM BD Combo
Added Intel 6200 Wireless Card
AMD Radeon HD 6850M 2GB DDR3 VRAM
Windows 7 64 Bit Ultimate

Acer Aspire 9810
Intel® Core™2 Duo processor
T7200/T7400/T7600 with (4 MB L2 cache, 2.0/2.16/2.33 GHz)
4 GB of DDR2 667 MHz memory(dual-channel support)
NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 7600 with 256 MB of external GDDR2 VRAM
20.1" WSXGA+ high-brightness (300-nit) Acer CrystalBrite™ TFT LCD, 1680 x 1050 pixel resolution
0

#5 User is offline   aaparsan 

  • Full Member
  • PipPipPip
  • Group: Members
  • Posts: 94
  • Joined: 30-December 11
  • Location:Brampton,Ontario,Canada

Posted 14 January 2012 - 08:14 AM

You don't need to format your hard drive!
Just boot from the disc and select custom install.
Alexander Aditya Parsan



I have just got a new PC!!!!!!!!!I have been waiting years!



Think Different
0

#6 User is offline   MLStrand56 

  • Senior Member
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • Group: Members
  • Posts: 677
  • Joined: 02-October 07

Posted 21 January 2012 - 09:38 AM

View PostRonnn, on 31 December 2011 - 07:47 AM, said:

I have a dell laptop, about 5 years old, vista. I want to completely wipe it out and reinstall vista.

Boot & Nuke!!! You put the CD in the optical drive & boot from it. It will complete wipe your HD. As I recall, there are various methods. All you need is a basic wipe. If you do a Military Grade wipe, it will take Hours!

MLStrand56
0

#7 User is offline   LiveBrianD 

  • Elite
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Group: Members
  • Posts: 11,345
  • Joined: 31-December 09
  • Location:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1

Posted 21 January 2012 - 11:13 AM

The only reason to use DBAN is if you're getting rid of the hard drive. Otherwise, it's a waste of time.
Spoiler
"The Internet will be used for all kinds of spurious things, including fake quotes from smart people." -Albert Einstein
Need a Windows ISO image?
0

#8 User is offline   alishathomaz 

  • Full Member
  • PipPipPip
  • Group: Members
  • Posts: 50
  • Joined: 05-March 12

Posted 08 March 2012 - 03:50 AM

If you have the Vista disc just reinstall windows. That will wipe the drive and do a clean install.
0

#9 User is offline   Kathi201 

  • Member
  • PipPip
  • Group: Members
  • Posts: 49
  • Joined: 06-March 12

Posted 29 March 2012 - 10:39 PM

Yes you should try to get partition
0

#10 User is offline   henrywilliams 

  • Full Member
  • PipPipPip
  • Group: Members
  • Posts: 50
  • Joined: 05-April 12

Posted 12 April 2012 - 01:26 AM

You can re-install Windows. Insert the windows disc and start booting it and format your windows drive.
0

#11 User is offline   alishathomaz 

  • Full Member
  • PipPipPip
  • Group: Members
  • Posts: 50
  • Joined: 05-March 12

Posted 19 April 2012 - 12:36 AM

You can o it by using Vista installation disc::
Put the Windows Vista installation disc in the disc drive, and then start the computer.
Press a key when you are prompted.
Select a language, a time, a currency, and a keyboard or another input method, and then click Next.
Click Custom Install
0

Share this topic:


Page 1 of 1
  • You cannot start a new topic
  • You cannot reply to this topic

1 User(s) are reading this topic
0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users