Hi, I'd like to do a several-pass wipe on an old PPC Powermac G5. I understand I can do this using the disc utility, but only if I have the original 10.5.8 installation cd- I don't have this as the comp is second hand. Will the wipe work if I buy an old copy of a 10.5.8 installation disc or does it have to be the original? Is there any other way I can do this?
Thanks for the help,
PowerMac, Mac OS X (10.5.8), ppc processor
Use a retail Mac OS X 10.5.6 or earlier DVD or the computer's original disks. If desired, you can instead clone the existing system to an external drive and erase the internal one from there.
(80136)
Thanks- how would I go about cloning the system to an external drive and erasing it from there?
Use a program such as the Disk Utility, Carbon Copy Cloner, or SuperDuper to perform the clone, restart from the external drive, and use the Disk Utility to wipe the internal one.
(80141)
You can also connect the G5 to another Mac with a firewire port, and boot up in Target Disk Mode. The G5's drive is then essentially an external drive, and you can do work on it from the second Mac, including reformatting and security erase. No OS disk needed.
Directions here:
Remove the drive and sell the computer without it.
Thanks- I can't really sell as it's so old it's not really usable with most software now, not worth the effort. Am giving it to someone to use for their home network but as it's an old work comp I feel like I should try and clear whatever's still on it as no idea where it'll end up. I'll try the external drive method.
Wiping an old PPC PowerMac without the installation disc
