How long does it take to format a hard drive and reinstall windows

I am selling my mom my old toshiba laptop but I want to format it first, for the next week or so I am going to be really busy and I need to get this done ASAP, so how long would it take?

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Permalink Reply by Brandon Turnbull on April 29, 2009 at 6:26am: i used to format alot cuz all i used my comp for was gameing but now im in school so im now useing it for work and need to keep the data in tact
but with vista i could completely formate and instal all of my core drivers in around 1 hour 45 min but thats just core drivers to get all the programs i need i usly spent a full day just cuz i actuly like the experience of testing and getting it running fast again its like a new computer... now i wanna formate again lol; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Anubis on April 29, 2009 at 6:28am: Depends what O.S. you are putting on it. if it is XP shouldn't take more than a few hours, Vista on the other hand...i am not to sure about, One thing i do know is when I did a Sys. re-Store in Vista it took it most of the day >.>

-Anubis; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by david_mallette on April 29, 2009 at 6:33am: Just loading the OS doesn't take all that long. One hour ball park figure. Maybe less. It's the extra progs and a bit of tweaking that you have to add on to that. Depends what you want to load.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by franklin on April 29, 2009 at 5:45pm: depneding on your skill, for a couple hours to days

if you just want reformat, i takes like 2 hours, because it reboots alot

but then you have to install security software, we browswers, and other stuff you want; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by steve on April 29, 2009 at 7:28pm: What Operating System? Windows XP is about 1- 2 hrs to fresh install and Vista is 2- 3 hrs.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Laith BSoul on April 30, 2009 at 2:31am: 30 mins fast format 45mins normal format give or take 10 mins depending on the computer; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ice2642 on April 30, 2009 at 7:15am: all depends of the HD speed, OS, laptop configuration.

with a Toshiba A135 it get using Vista home premium to instal the recovery disk with a factory default +- 2h

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Permalink Reply by cutoft on April 30, 2009 at 10:30am: I can get a clean image of Vista and all drivers and software on the laptops I have been working on it about hour and 15 minutes. Thats if I'm paying attention to everything and not getting distracted by something else.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dan on May 1, 2009 at 1:52pm: If an installer CD came with it, you should be able to reformat using "quick", and reinstall everything in under an hour.
Dan; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Scott Jones on May 1, 2009 at 2:14pm: as i use to backup software to restore my OS, Docs and programs :)

Which includes Adobe CS4 master package, office 2007, 40gb of documents and other productivity & multimedia programs. is all installed fresh in 30mins :); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ken on May 1, 2009 at 2:16pm: The whole reason I want to format it is because I want everything erased, I think I may want to clone the drive.....I might use norton ghost for that.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ather on May 1, 2009 at 2:18pm: In order of importance: depending on your Hd capacity (for formatting) cd speed ( installing windows) processor and memory.; ▶ Reply to This