WD's "requirements" are usually for using their included utilities, which are cow flop. Your eMac should be able to detect any external USB drive without relying on badly-written software.
Also consider a USB flash drive or "thumb" drive. You can get a 64GB thumb drive for very cheap, like this:
SanDisk Cruzer CZ36 64GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive, Frustration-Free Packaging- SDCZ36-064G-AFFP
Most eMac had 80GB or smaller hard drives so I'd think one pass with a 64GB thumb drive would see the job wrapped.
WD's "requirements" are usually for using their included utilities, which are cow flop. Your eMac should be able to detect any external USB drive without relying on badly-written software.
Also consider a USB flash drive or "thumb" drive. You can get a 64GB thumb drive for very cheap, like this:
SanDisk Cruzer CZ36 64GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive, Frustration-Free Packaging- SDCZ36-064G-AFFP
Most eMac had 80GB or smaller hard drives so I'd think one pass with a 64GB thumb drive would see the job wrapped.
what is the final step to WIPE the system before I recycle it?
Do you still have the optical install/restore disks that came with the computer, or a full retail OS install disk? If so you can boot from those disks and use the version of Disk Utility on the optical disk to erase the drive.
Lacking disks, and if you have another Mac, connect the eMac to the other Mac with an appropriate cable. Boot the eMac into Target Disk Mode by pressing and holding the t key at startup. Wait for the eMac desktop to look like this:
The eMac's hard drive should show up on the other Mac's desktop just like it were an external drive. You can transfer files or erase the eMac's disk from the other Mac. Target Disk Mode setup and cabling requirements changed with newer Macs so you may find this Apple article useful:
How to use target disk mode to move files to another computer - Apple Support
If that doesn't work then you'll have to physically remove the drive from the eMac and make it the guest of honor at a sledgehammer test.
Hi Allen
Thank you! I had come to that conclusion late Tues. I have a couple 8 gig flash drives and started taking down files. My eMac is actually Panther 103.!! It shows I have 76 gigs of used with about 22 gigs of free space. A lot of my files I fear are redundant and useless anymore but hope to access that once it's wiped and I put the flash drive in my current iMac. I think there may be freeware I can download to help identify duplicates to remove.
My other question may be somewhere in support but I'll throw it out here. Once I've finished, what is the final step to WIPE the system before I recycle it?
Thank you Allen for the very detailed instructions. I have the original OS disks somewhere and I can link to my iMac.
eMac backup/recycle
