Need help erasing HD before recycling/donating...

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Level 1

4 points

Need help erasing HD before recycling/donating...

I am trying to donate or recycle my old IMacs but need to erase the HD first. I was told (by Apple Support) that I need the original software discs to do so or I would have to bring the computer to the Apple store near me. However, when I open the Disc Utility program, it seems to give me a few options and allows me to wipe out (with a few options e.g. 7X write over or 32X write over). Is this all I need to do or am I missing something? Thanks in advance.

iMac (Flat Panel)

Posted on Mar 26, 2013 2:16 PM

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Answer 1

mende1

Level 10

93,624 points

Mar 26, 2013 2:25 PM in response to tsfromnj

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities

First of all, have you started from the Mac OS X Install DVD? If not do it. If you haven't got the DVDs, call Apple to get replacement DVDs > http://support.apple.com/kb/HE57

After starting from the DVD, choose your language, and go to Utilities menu (on the menu bar) > Disk Utility. Then, choose "Macintosh HD" on the sidebar, go to Erase tab and erase the disk. If you want to make sure that your files can't be recovered, use a security option (an option that you can choose in the Erase tab), but the erase will take more time.

After erasing the drive, close Disk Utility and reinstall OS X. When the reinstallation finishes, the iMac will restart, so hold the mouse while your Mac is starting to eject the DVD, and turn off your computer. Remember to give the DVDs to the new owner

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Answer 2

varjak paw

Level 10

182,668 points

Mar 26, 2013 2:26 PM in response to tsfromnj

Yes, erasing the disk with one of the security options is all you need to do. Unless you have serious secrets on the drive, the single-pass option should be sufficient. If you want to be really secure, you can choose the 7-pass option (though I consider it totally unnecessary for any normal system), but it will probably have to run for hours. There is no reason anyone should need the 35-pass option; if your data is that confidential, the agency you work for will require the hard drive to be ground into tiny pieces.

Regards.

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Answer 3

Mar 26, 2013 2:32 PM in response to tsfromnj

The thing is you can't erase/format the disk you booted from. In addition if you are donating the system the people you are donating to will need a way to set the system up for themselves.

So for both these reasons the original install media are normally required. Now if you're not so concerned about the people getting the machine being able to use it (say they have the disks from another source) then you can boot the machine off of any other disk and erase/format the internal drive.

So if you have an external drive that will boot this system or another Mac that you can connect this one to in target disk mode then you can erase/format this systems internal drive.

One way or the other you need to be booted off of a different disk then the one you want to erase.

regards

Message was edited by: Frank Caggiano -as for the number of erase passes to perform. A single pass will be fine for most situations.

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