Selling G3 with OS9.2.How do I wipe HDD ?

You need to find the CDs that originally came with the computer. When you do:

Boot from your system install cd while holding down the c key.
Open Drive Set-up & select the HD & then access the Initialization Options from the Functions Menu.
Check the box for "Zero All Data". Click "OK" & then Initialize.

After a good chunk of time, your HD will be wiped cleaned.

See Knowledge Base Article http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=24270

I've wiped OS9.2 using PGP.

PGP="Pretty Good Privacy," written by the computer god Phil Zimmermann as a gift to the world! No computer should be without it in these days of privacy invasions!!

It is freeware and is downloadable. It used to be available via a security download from MIT, but I think that has changed. If you google "PGP" and "zimmermann" you'll get plenty of hits and probably links to some interesting history.

Among the other things PGP does is wipe the freespace on your computer and erase securely files you designate.

There are PGP versions available for various operating systems, too, including Windows and LInux.

Another program which one can use to wipe programs is Burn 2.5, also available as freeware from www.thenextwave.com.

I need to do this to a few iMacs I have in my classroom with OS 9.0.3 . I already zeroed 12 G4s (operating on OS X) and it worked beautifully.
I do not know OS 9 as well though and am a bit nervous about it. I have the start up disk, but not the "restore" disk people have mentioned. Do I need it? Can't I just reinstall OS 9 after I zero the data?



PowerPC G4 512MB RAM Mac OS X (10.3.5) Second Computer: iMac G5 1GB RAM

Hi, Leah -

I have the start up disk, but not the "restore" disk people have mentioned. Do I need it?

No.

You can use the Software Install CD that came with the machine, or a retail OS 9 Install CD of adequate version for the machine in question.

In either case, after booting to the Install CD run Drive Setup (it's in the Utilities folder on the CD). Select the drive in the list, then choose the low-level or zero-all-data option (Initialization Options in the Functions menu), whichever is offered, and then click the Initialize button.
Using Drive Setup

Choose Mac OS Extended as the format when asked.

Once the drive has been initialized and formatted, and while still booted to the Install CD, run the OS Installer (Mac OS Install) to place a standard OS 9 install on the drive.

Test boot to the freshly installed OS, and you're done.

***

Using an original Software Install CD or a retail OS 9 Install CD will place a full OS, standard utilities, and basic folders on the hard drive.

A Software Restore CD, one which came with a machine, will do the preceding and also install any additional software the machine may have shipped with originally (some machines were bundled with extra software).

Redrover: You can't erase your drive without a bootable Mac OS Install or Restore CD, or some other volume that can boot your Mac and contains a copy of Drive Setup, PGP or Burn. The hard drive can't be wiped while the OS on it is running the computer. You must be able to boot the computer to some other volume in order to zero its internal hard drive using Drive Setup, PGP, or Burn. You must zero the hard drive to be certain that your files are really gone from it, and will not be recoverable by the buyer. Merely erasing the disk in the Finder leaves all your files easily accessible until they are actually overwritten, which might not be for quite a while. Commonplace commercial disk utilities are all anyone would need to recover and read them.

You shouldn't sell any computer with software on it for which you can't provide the original installer disks. If you're going to sell it with an operating system installed, you need to supply the original CD(s) from which that OS was installed. If you sell it with any commercial applications installed, give the buyer the original disks for all of those, too. If you don't, you are pirating the software. Pirated software adds nothing to the value of a computer, because it can't be reinstalled if anything happens to it or to the computer is was on: it's just gone. The wise bidder will offer no more for a computer loaded with pirated software than for a computer that contains no software at all.

^5

eww, I hope you don't me borrowing your last paragraph (with credit of course). That was very well said.

Borrow away, BB, but I see I mistyped "is" instead of "it" in the line ending "...or to the computer is was on: it's just gone." Please correct that before reusing it.

Thank you so very much, Don. You answered all my questions. I appreciate the help and can't wait to get these computers all cleaned up.

Hi, Leah -

You're quite welcome - glad to be able to help.

Okay, I started zeroing one of the computers. I chose "Initialize" and it began "zeroing data". It took forever, as expected, so I let it run overnight. I came back the next day (today) and it has the same Drive Setup window up, with the a drive called "untitled" now highlighted and it says "Drive can be initialized". Now, I made the mistake of hitting initialize again to see what would happen and promptly hit cancel because I didn't know if it was right. I think it said that my hard drive had been successfully initialized before I did that, but I'm not sure. My question is, do I initialize the "untitled" drive, close the window (it doesn't have a close button on it), or ignore it and install my OS 9?

Sorry. Lots of words. I just dont want to mess up my school's computer. Can you help me?

Hi, Leah. Initializing a disk without zeroing all data is a very quick process, and it may even have been completed before you decided to cancel it. Just in case it wasn't, and the drive was left in some betwixt-and-between state when you canceled, I suggest doing it again. Don't bother zeroing — that's been done already. Just do a simple initialization, let it finish, quit Drive Setup, and proceed with your installation.

Well, I hit initialize and it is again saying that it is writing zeroes (and taking forever).
Just so it's clear, this is now zeroing a drive that is labeled "untitled". I zeroed the hard drive last week, and this untitled one popped up asking me if I wanted to initialize it too.
Hopefully, when it finishes with this, the drive set up window will have a close option and I can simply install my OS 9. I'll let you know.
Thanks.