How do I prepare my iMac for sale? And best practice for transferring media to a new system.

How to prepare your Mac for sale

Whoever said you can't sell you iMac with the current Mac OS X is wrong, I believe.

You can simply go to your App Store and download the Mountain Lion again if you bought it, if you haven't, you can easily find it for free. After you have finished downloading the Mountain Lion, create a Bootable USB, here is all the steps for it: (http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/mac/how-to-create-a-bootable-usb-to-install-os- x/2699). t

After you done all that, restart your iMac and when it comes back on keep the alt/option key pressed. It will allow you to choose whether you want to boot on your HD, which would load your current OS, or boot on the USB, which will show the options of Mountain Lion installation – formation, restauration, etc. You will be looking for formatation, probably, will apper as "Reinstall Mac OS X and erase all files" or something like that. After a while, the formatation will be completed and will ask you to put your iCloud account, etc., but you can skip tha

For erasing all your files safely, that is it. However, if you don't wish anyone restoring your HD files (yes, even after you've done all that there is still a possibility), you can Download CCleaner and 'delete the clean space on your HD'. Which, will write files multiple times on the free space and then delete them, avoiding any commum softwares from recovering your old files.

As you wish to begin fresh on your new MBP, you don't really need to bother with softwares for backing media files. For instance, for the iPhoto, go to Finder > Pictures > find the iPhoto Library and copy it. Same with iTunes: Finder > Music > iTunes folder and then Copy it. In the new MBP just drag these files to where they belong and choose to replace the files already on the MBP.

I hope this helps.

Just an observation, all this process shouldn't take more than three hours.

Whoever said you can't sell you iMac with the current Mac OS X is wrong, I believe.

Unfortunately, it is not wrong.

Any OS purchased/obtained at the app store - as is the case here - is not transferable. The license is tied forever to the Apple ID used to obtain it. The SLA states that the seller needs to erase the drive and reinstall the original system.

@ Kamikazwe:

You can call Apple and give them your serial number and they will send you copies of your original disks at a nominal charge.

You do need to use your original Snow Leopard disk, boot from it, erase the drive, and reinstall Snow Leopard. The buyer of the machine will need to purchase his/her own copy of Lion or Mountain Lion with their own Apple ID or they will never be able to reinstall or update the OS.

SLA Excerpt:

3. Transfer.

A. If you obtained the Apple Software preinstalled on Apple-branded hardware, you may make a one-time permanent transfer of all of your license rights to the Apple Software (in its original form as provided by Apple) to another party, provided that: the Apple Software is transferred

together with your Apple-branded hardware; (ii) the transfer must include all of the Apple Software, including all its component parts, printed materials and this License; (iii) you do not retain any copies of the Apple Software, full or partial, including copies stored on a computer or

other storage device; and (iv) the party receiving the Apple Software accepts the terms andcconditions of this License. For purposes of this License, if Apple provides an update (e.g., version 10.8 to 10.8.1) to the Apple Software, the update is considered part of the Apple

Software and may not be transferred separately from the pre-update version of the Apple Software.

B. If you obtained your license to the Apple Software from the Mac App Store, it is not transferable. If you sell your Apple-branded hardware to a third party, you must remove the Apple Software from the Apple-branded hardware before doing so, and you may restore your system to the version of the Apple operating system software that originally came with your Apple hardware (the “Original Apple OS”) and permanently transfer the Original Apple OS together with your Apple hardware, provided that: the transfer must include all of the Original

Apple OS, including all its component parts, printed materials and its license; (ii) you do not retain any copies of the Original Apple OS, full or partial, including copies stored on a computer or other storage device; and (iii) the party receiving the Original Apple OS reads and agrees to

accept the terms and conditions of the Original Apple OS license.

I'm sorry, I forgot that the buyer would need to update the OS X eventually. Other than that, I do not see problems if he sells his iMac with a OS with a license tied to his Apple ID seeing as his data would be all gone.

I do not see problems if he sells his iMac with a OS with a license tied to his Apple ID seeing as his data would be all gone.

Various scenarios have been tested: you cannot reinstall the OS unless you are using the Apple ID that was used to obtain it. Additionally, there is the fact that you would be violating the terms of the SLA and we would violate the ToU of the forums discussing anything of the sort.

Kamikaze Tiki wrote:

So, I need to contact Apple to get install discs from them otherwise whoever buys my iMac can never update it? If that is correct it seems really crazy. I honestly thought there was a way to reformat it back to factory defaults and still maintain the iLife suite (this is iTunes, iPhoto, and Garage Band, correct?) then repackage it. It seems wrong that my Apple ID is tied to it from that point. When I took it out of the box the very first time none of my information was preloaded.

Whoever purchases your iMac w/o the system DVDs that originally came w/the computer will have a glorified door stop. All of the troubleshooting tools are on the DVDs as well as the (bundled) pre-installed Apple software.

I purchased my iMac in March of 2011 with OS X Snow Leopard preinstalled.

All Macs sold w/SL preinstalled also came w/system DVDs (2) plus one Developer DVD.

So, I need to contact Apple to get install discs from them otherwise whoever buys my iMac can never update it?

Sorry I'm a bit late to get back here....

When Apple changed the delivery format for the OS as well as apps, it also changed the license requirements.

If your Mac was pre-Lion or Mountain Lion, it came (or should have come) with install disks. Apple will replace those for you if they got lost or whatever. Any OS or app obtained at the app store is NOT transferable - the prices were lowered and the terms are now that anyone buying a used Mac has to buy the OS and any apps under their own Apple ID again.

If you do not reinstall the original system (Snow Leopard) using the install disks (boot from the install disk, wipe your entire drive, reinstall the original OS) and sell it with the current OS, the buyer will, in fact, be running a pirated copy of the OS. As it is tied to the purchaser, the buyer will never be able to reinstall if there is a problem because he would need to authenticate the reinstall with an Apple ID. Of course that is not possible as his ID is not the same as yours, so you would not be doing any buyer a favor.

Any Mac sold now with an OS that was not preinstalled needs to be reverted to the original system; another way to put it is: you are no longer "purchasing" the license, you are "renting" it for your own use - and it is only good for one use.

I say that my system was shipped with Snow Leopard, but I may be incorrect. I got it in March of 2010

Lion was released in July 2011 and Mountain Lion in July 2012 - my mid 2010 purchased in August 2010 came with Snow Leopard so yours would have come with either Snow Leopard or, if older, with leopard (10.5).

YUP!

Glad you found them! Insert and hit the C key while restarting and you should be booting from the install DVD. Use its Disk Utility to wipe the drive - as you are selling it, I'd choose the 3 x pass (writing zero's three times) which means no one will be able to recover any data from your disk. That will take a while; after that, reinstall.

Inform buyer that you are not allowed to sell it with Lion or Mountain Lion, but are asking less for it to offset his/her $20 purchase of Lion/Mountain Lion.