Wiping OSX 10.4.11

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Level 1

14 points

Wiping OSX 10.4.11

Hello,

I'm trying to do a wipe on my old iMac that is running 10.4.11. We want to wipe it so it can be submitted for recycling as it is not very functional anymore. We do not have the original install disc and do not want to spend the money to buy one. Online I've found ways to do it through the Disk Utility feature; however when I go to the "Erase" tab all of the options I want to choose are grayed and it won't let me erase at all. Anyone have any ideas on what is going on here? We are using the administrator log-in so there are no restrictions if that is relevant here. I'm pretty much at a loss as to what to do here and want to get this thing cleaned up and out of our house. Thanks for any help you can provide!

Abby

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), Personal laptop

Posted on Apr 15, 2013 12:35 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Michael Black

Level 10

80,268 points

Apr 15, 2013 12:39 PM in response to abbyh

The only way to erase a boot disc is to boot from some other media (you cannot wipe or erase the active boot drive). Can you connect it by firewire to another Mac in target disc mode? You could do that and wipe it. Or boot it from an external drive and then wipe the internal disc.

Alternatively, create a new admin account and log in to it. Then delete any and all previous user and admin accounts. Then wipe the free space. Should leave nothing but the new admin account and base OS directories.

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Answer 2

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Apr 15, 2013 12:39 PM in response to abbyh

You cannot erase the startup drive. You must startup from a different device such as an installer DVD. You can use any installer DVD that will boot the computer. You can use a bootable backup drive or even another Mac connected via Firewire cable.

Be sure you do a security erase using one-pass.

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