Been reading old threads wiping hard drives. any up dates. looking for a way to do hundreds. want to leave operating system in tact but wipe the info willing to spend a few $$.
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Been reading old threads wiping hard drives. any up dates. looking for a way to do hundreds. want to leave operating system in tact but wipe the info willing to spend a few $$.
Leaving the OS will be hard, but if there is a recovery partition, you should be able to wipe the other partition (The data partition), while not wiping the recovery partition. I recommend Parted Magic- it costs a few dollars, but is very flexible.
I don't know if it can do a DoD compliant wipe on part of a drive, though.
There was/is a program that does just what you are wanting to do. I don't recall its name but I will look around and see if I can find a link.
As I recall you would pay $1 per drive and had to put up $500 which the $1/per drive would be taken from.
There are some stand alone machines available that will wipe the drives then you can copy from a good drive back onto several target drives at the same time using the same machine. This is the way I would go. Start your search on ebay. Mike
There are problems involved with reloading the os from a recovery partition. ( Too many to list. )
It's quicker,easier,and lower cost to start with a drive that's been completely wiped & tested.
Next, download a clean ISO for the version of the OS that you want.
Next, either burn it to disc -or- transfer it to a usb thumb drive.
Install accordingly
Enter the product key (if applicable)
Authenticate it with Microsoft.
Install updates & drivers as needed.
It's not hard. About the only problem is that Win 10 doesn't seem to want to let you create a recovery partition on the HDD. You need special software for that task now.
If you sell that machine, you've just conmmited software piracy. Microsoft requires that you use the original install media- either via disk or recovey partition. If the drive is wiped, the cheapest route would be to purchase a new COA through the Registered Refurbisher Program, if he's a member. If not, an OEM COA costs around $100 per machine.Quote:
Originally Posted by Scrappah
at this point Microsoft does not care.......Free upgrade to any activated Windows 7 Machine (they don't care how it was activated).........They want to get everyone on board running their new software and charge you for services along the way
The only way I know how to keep the OS intact is to manually delete any unwanted files and then run a program called CCleaner. You would choose the option of wiping free space only. CCleaner is free, but there is a paid version available.
https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner
Agreed that Microsoft probably couldn't care much less about pirated copies of 7. But, still....
If you have a recovery partition on the drive, that will be in a separate partition, so you can wipe the other partition (Which will have data, programs,...) and then reinstall the OS from the recovery partition to have a machine that is basically out-of-the-box when it was new.
Before spending money, check with the recovery software on the recovery partition. Some of them have data wiping options built in....
I would say work WITH Microsoft. They're not hard to get along with. Get the training and certifications for the kind of work you're interested in doing.
< sigh > So often it just isn't feasible to use the original install media. It would be very seldom that the original install disks would come along with a scrapped PC. If you're getting large volumes of machines from institutions like schools, companies,govt, etc it's most likely that they will come through without hard drives. Therefore ...no recovery partition is available.
Even if a recovery partition is available, it's quite often corrupt on a laptop drive. Then there are outdated drivers & missing service packs along with outdated software that is vulnerable to security breaches. Then there's all of the mfgr's bloatware & redundant programs.
JMO ...but it's far more hassle than it's worth to deal with.
That's why a lot of people go with the Registered Refurbisher Program. It's really a great program that Microsoft offers....
I really think that would be the best thing for EcoSafe. He's gearing up to do hundreds. Imagine if you had a hundred of one particular model come in.
You could load the same image of an OS from a thumb drive and just go from machine to machine. It probably wouldn't take more than fifteen minutes per unit to load the OS. Maybe another five or ten to download the most recent updates & drivers on a high speed internet connection ?
If you could tweak the image to include the latest updates & drivers along with an unattended install you could really bang em' out !
ETA: Come to think of it you could load an OS onto ten or twenty drives at a time with the right gear but that would be more of a capital investment.
Would that be that the manufacturers & larger refurbishers do it ?
Seems like any other method would just be too slow if they're doing serious volume.
here you go...up to 1 to 47 it looks like (I didn't look very long). and YES, MS Registered Refurbish program...you will get windows licenses very cheap (assuming you want to do system builds). You can also use these cabinets and just wipe a bunch of drives for resale.
Enjoy!
items in store on eBay!
Many of which also duplicate. MikeQuote:
Originally Posted by webuyselltradestuff
Jeez .... it would be awfully nice to have if you're going into refurbishing. Seems like it would combine disk wiping and loading the OS into one operation with little human attention. Major time & labor savings.
I was talking with a friend awhile back and saying that CCleaner & a good (paid) anti virus can save you a lot of hassles with your operating system getting messed up. He said that when he starts running into problems he just re-loads the OS to return it to the factory state. Then ... it takes about a day to download & install all of the updates from Microsoft.
That's an awful lot of time spent on just one machine.
That's how the big boys do it. With my PXE server, I can load 47 computers at once if I'd ever like to. I don't have it set in the new building yet, but in the old one, I did about 20 at once. It's pretty cool, but not for the faint of heart- I spent two weeks (And had to call in a friend) to get my Linux server going just right. It is awesome when you're done, though.
For the average user, 1:1 is much easier, and will still be plenty. I'd pass on a 1:1 machine, though. Instead of spending $250 on one, I'm able to do the same thing with an early dual core Gateway desktop. If you outgrow that, just get another desktop off the pile! ;)