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Reformatting HD on G5 tower no DVD drive

I have the old G5 tower desktop with OS 10.4 on it and am giving it to a friend. I wanted to reformat the hard drive first so she'd be starting from scratch, but the internal DVD drive doesn't work anymore. I have an external DVD drive and have tried to install the OS from the original disc with that, however it is not working. When I double click the install button and hit restart, I have tried many key combos to start from the DVD, however it is not working. I have tried holding down the C key, the D key, and even the option key to select a drive, but the only one that shows up is my internal hard drive. Any other thoughts on how I can get this hard drive reformatted? TIA

Posted on Jun 9, 2014 11:08 PM

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Posted on Jun 9, 2014 11:53 PM

Hi, is this external drive USB that G5s can't boot from?


Open System Preferences>Accounts, unlock the lock, click on the little plus icon, make a new admin account, log out & into the new account.

In the same pref pane highlight your old account, click the little minus icon, then use Disk Utility to Secure Erase Free Space.

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Question marked as Best reply

Jun 9, 2014 11:53 PM in response to measterling

Hi, is this external drive USB that G5s can't boot from?


Open System Preferences>Accounts, unlock the lock, click on the little plus icon, make a new admin account, log out & into the new account.

In the same pref pane highlight your old account, click the little minus icon, then use Disk Utility to Secure Erase Free Space.

Reformatting HD on G5 tower no DVD drive

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