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My IMac failed to restart and gave the single beep every five seconds. Nothing I have done will restart it. Given its age I have decided to buy a Mac Mini. The problem is that I have no way to wipe the hard drive of data. If I take the IMac into an Apple shop fir recycling is the recycling process secure? Or should I remove the hard drive and physically destroy it?
iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.15
clive241 wrote:
Does Target Disk or Migration Assistant work when the old MAC dies not boot up. All I get when power is switched on is a bleep every five seconds.
The one beep every 5 seconds means that the computer isn't detecting any RAM. So if you iMac is a late 2011 or older model you should have a RAM door in the back. Open it and make sure the modules are firmly seated in their slots.
Otherwise you should be able to boot your iMac into Target Disk Mode . Give it a try to see if you get this on the screen:
The new MAC Mini set up perfectly, but it was not possible to activate Target Disk or Migration Assistant onto the old 2013 IMAC. I restored data from a Time Machine HDD Catalina backup which had been in use right up until the IMAC failed. The problem was that the old IMAC had power (single bleep every 5 seconds) but the screen display did not come on.
So back to my original question on how apple recycle "duff" computers. I have self-answered it. I removed the IMAC bonded screen, used small Torx driver to remove the HDD, then using 2kg lump hammer I drove 8 holes into the HDD with the sharp end of a steel mooring pin. Not very elegant I admit but it worked.
Apple provides the Migration Assistant app to easily transfer all of your data from one computer to another. That is why it was created. Easy to use, just follow the instructions with one exception. Do NOT use Wi-Fi. It almost always corrupts your data. Instead, use a USB cable to connect. When done. you can erase your old Mac using the instructions on the following link: What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac - Apple Support
Does Target Disk or Migration Assistant work when the old MAC dies not boot up. All I get when power is switched on is a bleep every five seconds.
I have the Time Machine back up in Catalina and my documents are in ICloud. My objective is to render the old Mac hard drive secure. That’s why I asked what Apple does with non functioning machines returned for recycling.
I had tried that and no success. The screen stays totally black.
Plus I tried other combinations of keyboard key inputs as recommended to restart a “ stuck” IMAC. it’s a 2013 model Intel and absolutely no openings on the back to access anything.
You might be able to erase the hard drive and even recover files using Target Disk mode when you get the new mini Transfer files between two Mac computers using target disk mode - Apple Support
That sounds like a RAM error, see > https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202768
Did you try and upgrade the RAM or have someone else work on it recently?
See if you can get it to run the Apple Diagnostics.
No, I just shut it down and next day powered it up. Then all I got was a blank screen and a single beep every five seconds. Prior to shut down it had been working absolutely fine.
2013 IMac needs recycling
