HT201065: What to do before selling or giving away your Mac

Learn about What to do before selling or giving away your Mac
BRPfromUK

Q: how do I clear my snow leopard before I sell it

i am selling my iMac 4.1 OSX 10.6.8 Snow Leopard how do I clear passwords etc?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8), snow Leopard

Posted on Jan 27, 2014 2:47 PM

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Q: how do I clear my snow leopard before I sell it

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  • by sterling r,

    sterling r sterling r Jan 29, 2014 9:21 AM in response to BRPfromUK
    Community Specialists
    Jan 29, 2014 9:21 AM in response to BRPfromUK

    Hello BRP,

     

    It sounds like you are wanting to clear your personal info from your computer before you sell it. If you have completed the applicable steps in the article you came from, the next step is going to be to erase the hard drive to prepare it for re installation of the Operating System:

    Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard: How to Erase and Install

    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3910

    Important: This procedure will completely erase your hard drive. If you have installed Microsoft Windows using Boot Camp, or have multiple partitions, this procedure will erase the partition you select.

    Part One: Erasing the hard drive

    1. Turn on the computer.
    2. Insert the Mac OS X Install DVD into the optical drive, or insert the MacBook Air Software Reinstall Drive into the USB port.
    3. Restart the computer.
    4. Press and hold the "C" key while the computer starts up. The computer will start up using the Install media. Alternatively, press and hold the Option key at startup to select the volume containing the installer.
    5. If your are using a wireless mouse, a mouse icon should appear asking you to turn the mouse on so that the computer can discover it.
    6. Select a language, then press the right arrow key.
    7. Click the Utilities menu, the choose Disk Utility.
    8. Select a volume to erase (usually called Macintosh HD).
    9. Click the Erase tab.
    10. Click Erase... Important: This step will completely erase your hard drive. If you have installed Microsoft Windows using Boot Camp, or have multiple partitions, this procedure will erase the partition you select.
    11. A dialog box appears asking if you want to erase the partition: click Erase.
    12. After the partition is erased, choose Quit Disk Utility from the Disk Utility menu.

    Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.

    All the very best,

    Sterling

  • by wondunnamate,

    wondunnamate wondunnamate Sep 28, 2015 4:37 AM in response to sterling r
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 28, 2015 4:37 AM in response to sterling r

    Hello

     

    What if I dont have the original disc? How do I do this?

     

    Thanks

  • by Ela86,

    Ela86 Ela86 Sep 30, 2015 4:28 AM in response to BRPfromUK
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 30, 2015 4:28 AM in response to BRPfromUK

    I Have Macbook 7.1, mid.2010. It came with snow leopard and later I have purchased Lion and Mountain Lion from AppStore. Now I have Yosemite.

    DO I still need the original disc to clear my Macbook before selling it?

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Apr 20, 2016 8:11 AM in response to Ela86
    Level 9 (70,061 points)
    iTunes
    Apr 20, 2016 8:11 AM in response to Ela86
  • by Sportscarl,

    Sportscarl Sportscarl Jun 12, 2016 3:28 AM in response to sterling r
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 12, 2016 3:28 AM in response to sterling r

    Thank you it worked!