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how do I clear my snow leopard before I sell it

i am selling my iMac 4.1 OSX 10.6.8 Snow Leopard how do I clear passwords etc?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8), snow Leopard

Posted on Jan 27, 2014 2:47 PM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Jan 29, 2014 9:21 AM

Hello BRP,


It sounds like you are wanting to clear your personal info from your computer before you sell it. If you have completed the applicable steps in the article you came from, the next step is going to be to erase the hard drive to prepare it for re installation of the Operating System:

Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard: How to Erase and Install

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3910

Important: This procedure will completely erase your hard drive. If you have installed Microsoft Windows using Boot Camp, or have multiple partitions, this procedure will erase the partition you select.

Part One: Erasing the hard drive

  1. Turn on the computer.
  2. Insert the Mac OS X Install DVD into the optical drive, or insert the MacBook Air Software Reinstall Drive into the USB port.
  3. Restart the computer.
  4. Press and hold the "C" key while the computer starts up. The computer will start up using the Install media. Alternatively, press and hold the Option key at startup to select the volume containing the installer.
  5. If your are using a wireless mouse, a mouse icon should appear asking you to turn the mouse on so that the computer can discover it.
  6. Select a language, then press the right arrow key.
  7. Click the Utilities menu, the choose Disk Utility.
  8. Select a volume to erase (usually called Macintosh HD).
  9. Click the Erase tab.
  10. Click Erase... Important: This step will completely erase your hard drive. If you have installed Microsoft Windows using Boot Camp, or have multiple partitions, this procedure will erase the partition you select.
  11. A dialog box appears asking if you want to erase the partition: click Erase.
  12. After the partition is erased, choose Quit Disk Utility from the Disk Utility menu.

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.

All the very best,

Sterling

6 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Jan 29, 2014 9:21 AM in response to BRPfromUK

Hello BRP,


It sounds like you are wanting to clear your personal info from your computer before you sell it. If you have completed the applicable steps in the article you came from, the next step is going to be to erase the hard drive to prepare it for re installation of the Operating System:

Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard: How to Erase and Install

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3910

Important: This procedure will completely erase your hard drive. If you have installed Microsoft Windows using Boot Camp, or have multiple partitions, this procedure will erase the partition you select.

Part One: Erasing the hard drive

  1. Turn on the computer.
  2. Insert the Mac OS X Install DVD into the optical drive, or insert the MacBook Air Software Reinstall Drive into the USB port.
  3. Restart the computer.
  4. Press and hold the "C" key while the computer starts up. The computer will start up using the Install media. Alternatively, press and hold the Option key at startup to select the volume containing the installer.
  5. If your are using a wireless mouse, a mouse icon should appear asking you to turn the mouse on so that the computer can discover it.
  6. Select a language, then press the right arrow key.
  7. Click the Utilities menu, the choose Disk Utility.
  8. Select a volume to erase (usually called Macintosh HD).
  9. Click the Erase tab.
  10. Click Erase... Important: This step will completely erase your hard drive. If you have installed Microsoft Windows using Boot Camp, or have multiple partitions, this procedure will erase the partition you select.
  11. A dialog box appears asking if you want to erase the partition: click Erase.
  12. After the partition is erased, choose Quit Disk Utility from the Disk Utility menu.

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.

All the very best,

Sterling

Dec 27, 2016 11:58 PM in response to BRPfromUK

A Company I used to work for did HDD recover, and I am here to tell you that it is very easy to get every bit of information that the original user had written onto the drive. Our clients wanted files recovered and we were paid handsomely for it.


What you want is available for free and for a price. I would never trust a free application. But I would do one of two things, pay or destroy the drive. I choose Safewiper data wiper to erase my personal data on hard drive.

Source: http://www.safewiper.com/tutorials/how-to-wipe-mac-clean.html

how do I clear my snow leopard before I sell it

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