Q: Any harm in leaving Aperture on a MacBook I'm selling?
I'm selling my 2009 MacBook Pro and will be using the funds to put towards a new computer. Someone called about the MacBook and asked what I used it for. I mentioned using Aperture. Other than that, the only other software that I had to pay for is Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop cc, which I would deactivate from the MacBook before selling. It's been awhile, but I think I also paid for iWork (Pages, Numbers, Keynote) when I purchased. I believe iWork is now free for new buyers and even available for free to users of pre-2013 Macs. Everything else is a part of OS X or a free download
I've copied everything I'm looking to bring with me to an external hard drive and know that the usual procedure is to zero out the hard drive, but I'm looking to use the MacBook right up until I sell it. I don't want to zero out the drive and then have the person not buy it and I don't want to tell a buyer with cash in hand to return later after I've erased everything. I live in a developing country where people appreciate extras and the perceived added value of software (even if it's not going to be used) can help make a sale. Once you tell someone that something is on the computer there's an expectation that it comes with the purchase. Cultural difference. It is what it is.
Since moving to Lightroom, I no longer use Aperture. I really don't care if I leave it on this MacBook if the next owner would like to use it (knowing that there will be no future updates/support) and/or if it helps with the sale. If I ever want to use Aperture again (unlikely) I know I can run on it a new Mac. Same with iWork. I don't care if the new owner uses it either.
Is there anything about this that screams "bad idea" that I'm not thinking about?
I don't have a bootable copy of OS X (currently running Mavericks) and my old discs are in my home country. Thinking this won't be a problem if new owner wants to install either Yosemite or El Capitan.
Here's my other question. Since I might not have time to correctly zero everything out and install a new OS, I was thinking I could just move everything to the trash instead. All I have on my hard drive is about 300gb of iTunes files, 200gb of photos, and some boring documents. Nothing really personal, private, privileged, important or valuable to anyone but myself. If someone went to the trouble or recovering erased data they'd only find music files, some boring photos, spreadsheets with plant watering schedules, and other boring things. The person who is looking to buy this is a musician, not a hacker, computer expert, a person who gives off bad vibes, etc..
Is this a bad idea? Is there some time saving alternative? Perhaps zero out the hard drive, install Yosemite or El Capitan, and then access everything from my external drive until I sell this - slow as it may be?
Sorry for the length. Thought I'd be detailed.
MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)
Posted on Jul 22, 2016 1:03 PM
