How to erase my old G5 before recycling without the start up disc?

Question

How to erase my old G5 before recycling without the start up disc?

Hi,

I have an old G5 Power Mac OSX 10.5.8 which I would like to recycle / scrap / trash.

It has been in my cupboard for some time and I have lost the origional start up CD. Is there a way to simply erase the drive before recycling without using the start up CD?

I do not need to reinstal the operating software, as the Computer is now obsolete and I am simply getting rid of it. For security purposes I would like to erase the drive fully before I do dispose of it.

I upgraded from the Power mac G5 to a macbook Pro (Intel), so the new startup disc I have for my new macbook pro is not backward compatible due to the intel change.

I have tried using disc utility to erase the drive, but when I select the drive to erase. the volume format and name is grayed out. Is this because I haven't booted from the start up disc?

The G5 Power Mac in question has no internet connection as it does not have a wireless card and I have no ethernet cable. So I am unable to download any software that might help me out.

Any help would be very much appreciated. I am not all that techy, so laymans terms would be helpful!

Posted on May 4, 2015 5:50 AM

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Answer 1

May 6, 2015 7:39 AM in response to Drew Reece

Thanks Drew,

Yes I suspect hitting with a hammer may be the simplest option, although I have to say it feels rather brutal! And I had this idea (probably rather naively) that when I recycled it, somebody, somewhere may be able to get some use out if it.

One other thought though. I do have the old operating disc that came with the machine (OS 10.3.2) Thats Panther I think?

Would that do the job? could I erase and reinstall Panther for the purpose of simply erasing. Can you downgrade the operating system?

Many thanks

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Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

250,253 points

May 4, 2015 10:18 AM in response to babybeebeebird

Hello,

Wish I could have it, they're still useful to me, but correct, you cannot erase the drive you are booted from.

Couple of possibilities...

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.

Make sure old user no longer exists.

If you have another Mac with Firewire & a FW cable,, boot the G5 into Target mode...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661

The newer Mac will then see the G5 as a Firewire Drive & you can format there then secure erase one pass.

The drive is very easy to just remove if need be.

There are also these devices that would allow you to erase it from the new Mac after pulling the drive...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/161537684983?lpid=82&chn=ps

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Answer 3

May 4, 2015 11:47 AM in response to BDAqua

Thanks for the suggestions!

If I make a new admin account and then erase my old account as per option 1, I'm guessing this should remove all my files, but will it remove any software from the machine? will there be passwords etc still lurking about?

Option 2 boot the G5 in target mode, looks like a possibility but not being techy I am nervous of erasing or causing issues with my new laptop. Is this possible?

I also read that you can use OSX recovery to erase a drive

OS X: How to erase and install - Apple Support

(needs an internet connection to work but I may be able to dig out an ethernet cable). Do you think this would be a possibility. I think it is for lion onwards do you think if I upgraded to lion it would work? it says on the article...

"Some Macs that came with OS X Snow Leopard can use Internet Recovery after installing OS X Lion or later and a software update."

my mac is not listed on the software update list though? What do you think?

Many Thanks for your help

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Answer 4

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,684 points

May 4, 2015 12:12 PM in response to babybeebeebird

Recycling? Is there really any reason to invest energy into erasing the disk?

Remove HD, smash HD with hammer or any other tools.

Simply making the disk unusable is enough to stop many determined users from reading it, once the platters are cracked most people will give up. Recyclers who are reusing the G5 should already be fitting newer HD's anyway, is there any reason to give them the disk when it slides out so easily?

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Power+Mac+G5+Hard+Drive+Replacement/1952

Target disk mode is fine if you want to run 2 Macs for many hours to 'secure erase' the disk, You can't screw up unless you boot the wrong mac into Target disk mode. Internet recovery & recovery mode are all out of the question unless you have them on another Mac (G5's never supported these features).

Deleting the data via the OS installed on that disk may leave your files on the drive - we really don't know how you saved passwords & the other files so it's possible stuff is left behind. Getting full access to the disk is the only way to be sure it is emptied.

There are also automated Linux tools that will erase connected HD's (DBAN) but I still have to question the merit of doing so when simply breaking a disk will achieve the same results.

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Answer 5

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,684 points

May 6, 2015 9:00 AM in response to babybeebeebird

The minimum OS depends on the model, provided that disc is for that Mac it should be fine, later G5's ran 10.4 & higher. You can probably run an erase that writes data over the old disk too from that installer. I can't recollect how that was done on 10.3, but I'm certain it was an option inside Disk Utility.

Simply reinstalling over the top will leave some files on the disk, they may be recoverable by tools that search for the file headers to get the file data.

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Answer 6

May 6, 2015 9:01 AM in response to Drew Reece

Thats great!

Thank you I will give it a try, It was the OS that came withe the machine so hopefully it will work!

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