Wipe your laptop safely before selling or donating it.

Preparing a laptop for sale or donation can be challenging, significantly if you’ve just upgraded your laptop. Our personal information and files could be stolen by someone, which is a scary thought for all of us. The reason for this is that all of our devices store so much information.

You won’t generally need to follow a different process, no matter what kind of device you want to sell or donate. However, depending on the device, you may need to follow a different method.

1: Make a backup

You should create a system backup of all files on your device before you begin. Time Machine is available for Macs, and System Image Backup is available for Windows.

Whether you use Google Drive, Dropbox, or iCloud, you must back up to another external hard drive or a Cloud-based storage solution.

Additionally, you should save all your web passwords on your web browser and sign out of every app on your Macbook before moving on to the Delete phase.

2: Delete the file

You need to perform a factory reset to remove all of your files. You can access Disk Utility on an Apple Macbook by pressing Command-R to enter Recovery Mode and selecting the Erase Disk menu. You can use a third-party app like DBAN to format older Windows machines, and you can change PC settings by going to Settings. If your computer is newer, you can use Settings and then click Change PC settings. Finally, select Reinstall Windows and Remove Everything.

3. Reset the computer

A factory reset will automatically reinstall all the necessary software on most laptops. However, as soon as that is done, you can set up the computer, so it is ready for use by the following user.

If you’re reinstalling Windows from the local drive, you can download it from the cloud or reinstall it from the local drive. When all software, settings, and data have been erased, Windows will clean the drive. Once complete, the machine will enter Setup Assistant Mode, which you can use to set up the following user. It would help if you also unlinked your old laptop from any Microsoft and iTunes accounts. After logging in and removing your old device, you can see which devices are connected to another device.

When handing over the old laptop, ensure it gets a deep cleaning! Using compressed air can be effective in getting rid of dust and dirt in difficult places. If dust or dirt needs to be removed, use alcohol swabs.

Are you having trouble with this process? Get in touch with 3C’s today.