Concern About Installing Autodesk Software on a Second-Hand Laptop

[ricardorpmx]

Hello,

I have a laptop which is a second-hand bought, recently I performed a full format, deleted all partitions from disk 0, and reinstalled Windows. However, when I installed the trial version of a CAD software (not from Autodesk), the trial period was already expired. This makes me suspect the previous owner might have used CAD software on this machine.

I’m now concerned about installing Autodesk software (AutoCAD or Revit) and whether there could be issues if the laptop previously had cracked versions installed. Could any leftover data, possibly stored outside the formatted disk, cause legal problems with Autodesk software in the future when I install Autodesk software with paid licenses?

I would appreciate any advice on how to ensure this PC or any used PC I buy in the future is clean and safe for installing official Autodesk software.

Thank you!

[mdavis22569]

Unfortunately, there isn't a way to fully verify.  

Most trial-related info in the bios and can't be scrubbed.  

What are you trying to run a trial of?  Was it already done with this account? 

[ricardorpmx]

Hi Mike, thank you for your reply.

I've not installed Autodesk software yet, a client probably will give me an account to work in Revit, I just wanted to guarantee that there would be no legal problems or penalties.

The trial is not a problem, I'm not worried about losing trial times, just worried about the well known legal penalties from Autodesk if there was somehow cracked software associated to this machine even after the reinstall of the system.

If it has had cracked software and Autodesk keeps information about this machine, I'm wondering if that will be an issue, if there are no way to guarantee this, for me that kind of invalidate the use of second-hand computers for Autodesk software.

[Simon_Weel]

the trial period was already expired

That's a bit weird. However, removing partitions doesn't actually wipe the disk. It merely changes a couple of bytes to makes the partitions invisible. Just as 'quick format' doesn't format the disk either. There are a number of disk-wipe programs around, so you could run one of them and see whay happens next.

If there's some info stored in the BIOS, you could take out the BIOS battery for a couple of minutes. But that's not always that easy with a notebook....

[mdavis22569]

the trial period was already expired

Or they did one and can't do a 2nd with that ID