Prevent sleep in recovery mode / install disk

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Level 1

4 points

Prevent sleep in recovery mode / install disk

Hi,

I'm using a Mavericks install USB to boot on my Macbook pro, so I can make a 7 pass erase to delete all my stuff from my computer before selling it.

However, the earse is supposed to take hours, but the computer falls asleep every now and then, which pauses the process.

Is there any way to prevent the computer from sleeping while booted through recovery mode / install disk?

I've tried a few different caffeinate commands, but none of them seem to work.

Maybe because the install disk doesnt do multitasking, meaning that I can go to Terminal and enter the command, but then I have to exit the terminal (thus ending the command) before opening Disk utility. But thats just my speculation.

Anyway, how are you supposed to make a 3 or 7 pass erase when the computer keeps sleeping?

Cheers!

Posted on Mar 7, 2014 5:00 PM

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Answer 1

blizzyman Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 8, 2014 1:10 AM in response to blizzyman

This command seemed to work:

pmset -a sleep 0 displaysleep 0

From https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4256468?answerId=23650322022#23650322022

Also, I used Cmd + Q to exit the Terminal, instead of closing the window (which gives a prompt "if you close the window, the script will stop") and then exiting.

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