Prior to selling a computer, hard drive, smartphone, tablet or nearly any electronic device that has built-in storage and memory, it’s always wise to perform a few steps in order to make sure that the device is ready for sale. The following checklist and recommendations will help you to prep your favorite devices before selling them.
Computers- Backup Important Files and Data
- Securely Erase Hard Drive
- Reinstall Operating System
1. There are two major ways that you can backup your data on a Windows computer:
The first method is the least complex, and simply revolves around transferring all of your important files and data to an external hard drive. This process is usually done by simply connecting your external hard drive to your Windows based computer, locating all of your important files and data, and dragging them to the external drive.
This simply places a copy of the files on the external hard drive.On your new computer, or the next computer you will be using, you can simply copy the files to the computer by dragging them into Windows on that particular PC, from your external hard drive.
The second method is a bit more complex, but still not too bad. You can perform a full backup of Windows including all of your files, using a specialty software or by simply using the basic backup utilities that Windows supplies. For example, Windows 7 has some included backup options that are accessible by simply launching the Start Menu and typing the word backup into the search programs and files text box. From there, select the Backup and Restore option from the start menu, and Windows will help guide you through the rest of the process.
2. Once you have all of your data backed up, your next step will be to delete all information on the computer’s hard drive. Aside from simply deleting the data, you will also likely want to zero out the drive, which is a process of writing zeros over the entire disk. This assures more security before selling the drive, as the layer of zeros prevents some data recovery software from potentially accessing your data, even if it has been deleted. Securely deleting the hard drive and writing the zeros is usually done using a program such as Active KillDisk or Darik’s Boot and Nuke (dban).
You can choose to write a single layer of zeros over your data, or perform multiple passes. Generally, three passes is recommended for absolute secure deletion, but this is all up to you.
3. Once you have deleted and zeroed the drive, there will of course be, absolutely nothing on it. When selling a computer, you will likely want to reinstall a fresh copy of Windows for the person who is purchasing the computer from you. This is fairly simple to do, and the web has a wide variety of different tutorials for clean installing or fresh installing Windows.
- For Macs
1. Mac computers follow a similar pattern. You will of course want to backup your data before securely deleting the hard drive. Again, you have the option of simply dragging all of your important files and data to an external hard drive, then copying them back to your new computer.
To perform a full backup, which will preserve things like system settings and other preferences, you also have the option of doing a Time Machine backup, which can also be done using a simple USB external hard drive.
2. As far as deleting the hard drive’s data securely and writing zeros on a Mac, you can simply use Disk Utility. To use Disk Utility, you will want to boot from the disc that came with your Mac, and launch Disk Utility from the disc. See next paragraph.
3. To reinstall a clean copy of Mac OS X, you will simply need to locate the Mac OS X install DVDs that came with your computer, insert the operating system disc, and reboot your computer. Upon restart, hold down the C button on your keyboard to boot from the disk, and follow the on-screen directions.
Hard Drives
- Backup data
- Securely Erase Hard Drive
- Reformat
The prior to sale process of securely deleting hard drives is quite similar to the process listed above for computers. However, it is a bit less work, because you won’t need to reinstall an operating system.
1. Backup. External hard drives, or internal hard drives paired with an external enclosure are very simple to backup. Simply drag any files or data from the hard drive to your computer, or to another hard drive. This copies the files as they are, and simply lets you store them in a different place, at least for the time being.
2. With hard drives and external hard drives, you are going to want to delete the disk, but of course write a layer or two or three or more of zeros over the data. In Windows, you can use the two freeware programs dban or Active KillDisk (links above), as these two programs support external hard drives also.
On a Mac, you can use Disk Utility to zero an external hard drive, and also to reformat it.
3. Once you have deleted the drive and written zeros, you will likely want to reformat the drive for the next owner, which is very simple. In Windows, you can use the Disk Management utility, accessible at Start > Search programs and files > type ‘disk management’ > Create and format hard disk partitions. On a Mac, you can use Disk Utility, accessible at Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.
With your external hard drive connected to your computer, backup, erase and zero the drive, then reformat.
Smartphones and Tablets
- Backup data
- Reset Device
Smartphones and tablets are actually, usually a bit simpler to delete than computers and hard drives. Because the operating systems are a bit different, and you don’t want to be writing zeros to your iPad or Android tablet, the process is a bit faster also.
1. Backup your smartphone or tablet. With Apple products such as the iPad or iPhone, this is of course done via iTunes. With Android devices, smartphones and tablets, this is usually done via the software that came with your particular device. With many Android products, you can simply connect your device to your PC using a USB cable, and Windows will allow you to browse the device. You can use this method to copy any important data from the device also, but it is always recommended to use the according software that came with your tablet or smartphone for backup.
2. Resetting your tablet or smartphone to default settings is usually very straightforward, but the process for resetting each device is a bit different. A basic Google search can usually lead you to specific directions for performing a factory reset for your particular device. The process usually involves going into the Settings for the device, and selecting an option to Reset device to factory settings and delete all data, or similar.
Thank you for stopping by the site for today’s post. Although not extremely detailed for specific devices, because there are just so many devices on the market, this post is more aimed at being a checklist in order to help remind people on what should be done prior to selling an electronics device that has built-in storage or memory. If anyone has any other recommendations, or if there is anything I missed, feel free to leave a comment in order to help others.
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