Need help setting up a used iMac (Leopard)

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Level 1

17 points

Need help setting up a used iMac (Leopard)

iMac (iMac 7,1) with Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.4 GHz, 2 GB Ram with Leopard (10.5.8).

I'm trying to help a friend of mine. She received a used iMac from her son. He left all of his information on it, including 9,180 picture files. However, he does not have the original Leopard disks. She purchased Snow Leopard through Apple and received the disk in the mail.

Here are my questions:

1. Can I just insert the Snow Leopard disk and install it (after backing it up) or do I need to reinstall Leopard first?

2. Do I also need to decommission his ID, so that her ID will be associated with the update?

I'm fairly new when it comes to Macs, so any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

iMac with Retina 5K display, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Jun 30, 2015 9:57 AM

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Answer 1

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BDAqua

Level 10

239,189 points

Jun 30, 2015 10:32 AM in response to Palarin22

1. You can do that, but all the sons info will be there still.

2. Erasing the Disk & Installing would be the best, but...

Or...

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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Answer 2

Palarin22 Author

Level 1

17 points

Jul 1, 2015 7:34 AM in response to BDAqua

I went ahead and just used the Snow Leopard disk to install it (without formatting the drive) and then removed her son's ID. I'm glad that I did it that way because it kept all of the additional programs that were installed on it, including; Office. It's working great now.

Thanks again for your help!

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