Installing Windows 10 on a laptop with a complete drive format?

mrcheez

I have an Acer laptop that will be going to a new home, but I want to upgrade it to Windows 10 before I hand it over (it's currently Windows 8.1).

As part of the install I'd like to format the HDD to remove any personal data that might be left (faster than running CCleaner / uninstalling software etc) and Windows 10 installation stick has this option.

My question is: will there be any laptop-specific drivers I risk losing if I do a complete format, or is wiping the HDD/re-installing the OS just as straightforward as doing it on a standard PC?

Dravokivich

Might be an idea to lookup Acer's website to see if they've drivers available for the Laptop with Windows 10. Just download'em and save'em onto a USB. So any issues after you can quickly load'em up.

FishOnABike

If you are concerned about private data on the hard disk, formatting the hard disk does not remove the data or files it only removes the filesystem references to the data or files on your HDD.

The reason utilities like CCleaner take so long is because they overwrite the data. Unless you overwrite the data + files using some utility like CCleaner / DBAN or even dd under linux your data and files can be recovered easily with tools like Recuva, Paragon Rescue, Diskinternals etc.

If you want to be sure your data has been properly erased make sure you overwrite it, there's no need for multi-pass erase, a single overwrite is enough but if it isn't overwritten it can be recovered.

Johnboy1951

FishOnABike wrote:

If you want to be sure your data has been properly erased make sure you overwrite it, there's no need for multi-pass erase, a single overwrite is enough but if it isn't overwritten it can be recovered.

+1

Overwrite the data to be certain it cannot be recovered afterwards.

One point I should make is that many of those 'cleaners' do multiple passes (writes) by default which is what takes the majority of the time.

This is completely unnecessary, and if you use one of those which default to multiple passes then change that default to a single write.
It will complete much quicker and provide just as much security as multiple passes.

mrcheez

What's the "Overwrite data" option on CCleaner?

Does it not just wipe the empty space? Do I not need to run a tool on a USB stick to wipe the HDD including OS?

FishOnABike

Make sure you have backed up any personal data and software install files you want and any laptop specific drivers or utilities (if the laptop has a windows 8.1 recovery partition or utility partition decide if you want to keep them).

If you are happy enough to wipe the entire hard drive (assuming it's not an SSD) the easiest thing to do is use DBAN (http://www.techerator.com/2009/07/how-to-securely-erase-your-hard-drive-using-dban) and do a fresh install of Windows 10 onto the 'clean' drive once DBAN has done its job.

mrcheez

FishOnABike wrote: »

Make sure you have backed up any personal data and software install files you want and any laptop specific drivers or utilities (if the laptop has a windows 8.1 recovery partition or utility partition decide if you want to keep them).

If you are happy enough to wipe the entire hard drive (assuming it's not an SSD) the easiest thing to do is use DBAN (http://www.techerator.com/2009/07/how-to-securely-erase-your-hard-drive-using-dban) and do a fresh install of Windows 10 onto the 'clean' drive once DBAN has done its job.

Before I use DBAN, are there any chances it will make the drive unusable after or is it pretty foolproof?

I.e. might it damage sectors or corrupt it etc

I take it I use the "autonuke" option?

FishOnABike

DBAN just writes random data to the whole disk, overwriting whatever data was there so it cannot be recovered. Unless the disk was already about to fail it is no more likely to fail while DBAN is writing to it, in which case it's better failing while DBAN is writing to it rather than a few days later after you have installed windows and restored all your data.

As it's a laptop I'd advise leaving it somewhere where it wont be likely to be accidently bumped or knocked. I don't know if your model has active hard disk protection against shock/vibration but hard disks may be more vulnerable to damage if subject to shock while they are being written / read. DBAN could take a few hours.

mrcheez

Do I select autonuke when running it?

I'm running it off a bootable USB stick

Johnboy1951

I would select the Interactive option and select Quick Erase to do a one-pass quick wipe which is sufficient to ensure the data is not recoverable.

You would also have the option to select which drive/s get wiped.