I'm planning to sell my iBook, and I forgot how to clear it of all my personal information without deleting the useful software and applications. Can someone please remind me about how to do a secure clean-up? Thanks.
G5 iMac OS 10.4.11; MacBook OS 10.6.1,
Mac OS X (10.6.1)
First go to System Preferences>Accounts. Click the '+' sign at the bottom and create a new admin account. Make a note of the password. Log out and log in again into the new account. Click the '-' (minus sign) at the bottom, select the old account, confirm with password when asked and select the option that
doesn't save the home folder.
When that has finished open Disk Utility, select the volume name in the left hand pane, then select the 'Erase' tab and then the 'Erase free space' button.
That's the quick and dirty method, the clean and correct way is to format the drive using the installation disk(s) & erase using at least a single pass of zero overwrite. Re-install the OS and & shut down at the end of the installation so that the new owner gets to name the Home folder and choose the password. WRT to software/apps, technically and legally these should be accompanied by the original installation disks along with a note of the registration serial #s if relevant. All Apple disks for the OS and Software should likewise be supplied to the new owner.
Which Mac OSX version is installed on the iBook, Maria? (Slaps own wrist, should have established this at the outset)
I'm guessing Tiger 10.4.x. To enable the new account as Administrator you need to be logged into your original Admin account. Go to System Preferences>Accounts. Select the
new account in the left hand pane. The right hand pane will reflect the details for that account. The last item is a check box that prompts: "Allow user to administer this computer" (or similar) Check the box, enter your old password if asked. Quit System Prefs, Go to the Apple menu and select 'Log Out Maria' (or whatever your own, original account is called). You should then get a Log-in window showing both accounts. Select the new one and enter the password for that account. Go System Prefs>Accounts and delete your old admin account as I advised in my first post.
YES! It worked, Adrian! I have now erased my old account, set up a New Account with new password, and already have a buyer for this neat little machine! Thank you very much for your patience and skill, Adrian. I wish I could "give back" to this forum in some way, for all the help I have received over the years, but I don't know much.
And after running 'securely erase free-space' anything tagged to trash
and not already over-written at least by the new information should be
not readily readable by the new owner. - One could run a demo ware
version of a data recovery program to see what percentage appears!
Glad you got it sorted, and a buyer too already! Excellent news. WRT to 'giving back', I was a refugee from Windows XP when I first visited the forums and just picked things up as I went along. Still by no means an expert but I enjoy helping when I can.
