Wiping hard drives on older macs

Christoph7577,

The easiest would be to take an external SCSI drive, copy the system folder over to the backup drive, boot from the external drive and then initialize the first hard drive and write zeros to coverup old data.

If you do not care about the drive, tear it apart and turn the platters into wind chimes.

Jim

Or just hammer a steel spike through the drive next to the spindle that supports the platters. Simple, quick, and beloved of those whose data are not for other people's eyes.

Denis,

One batch of old hard drives from an auction were drilled. The next batch had the controller boards removed. I wonder if I can swap out parts and re-use some of the drives? Sounds like a challenge.

Jim

Since it is a Macintosh Plus, the hard drive would be separate. Which operating system is installed right now?

Do you have access to another older Macintosh computer with a built-in floppy drive?

Generally speaking, one can use Apple HD SC Setup 7.3.5 ( here) or Drive Setup 1.7.3 to low-level format (initialise) a SCSI hard disk. Drive Setup (Zero all data under Initialization Options) can overwrite with zeros. A special utility such as Wipe Info (part of the commercial Norton Utilities package), or the freeware program Burn 2.5 (try a Google search), will be able to carry out additional overwriting operations. Depending upon the system version et cetera, the utilities may or may not work as intended.

Jan

Jan,

Good point. I spent more years in front of my SE than the Plus. Maybe I was trying to mentally block the early days of swapping 800k floppy disks in the Plus until I finally broke down and bought an external disk drive!

Christoph7577,

Any mac with an external SCSI port will work. However, if you want to continue using the hard drive with the Plus, it will need older drivers. Post back with the type of hard drive and your intended use.

Jim

Jim
... to which you can add, a drive setup utility that is capable of imposing the necessary interleave ratio that older (Plus 3:1, SE 2:1) original HDDs need. A contemporary Apple driver, or Silverlining 5.8.2, will do the job if reformat is the route taken.

It is certainly possible to remarry compatible boards and drives. I haven't done it, but it is an established step in data recovery, as opposed to destruction.

capable of imposing the necessary interleave ratio that older (Plus 3:1, SE 2:1) original HDDs need. A contemporary Apple driver, or Silverlining 5.8.2, will do the job if reformat is the route taken.

Denis,

If Christoph7577 wants to reformat the hard disk, we could perhaps add that when this operation is carried out from a disk tools floppy with Apple HD SC Setup, with the hard drive attached to the Plus, the correct interleave ratio should be set automatically. Otherwise (when a drive is reformatted on another Mac, and then moved to the Plus), an interleave dialogue box will appear if the two keys Command + I are pressed once Apple HD SC Setup (7.3.5) has been opened.

Jan

Jan
Verily. And I should have written 'contemporary Apple drive set-up utility', also, rather than 'contemporary Apple driver'. Silverlining 5.8.2 gives a wider choice amongst several parameters, but an HD SC Setup in the hand ...