How do I erase my hard drive? My initial operating system was Snow Leopard but I have upgraded to Mavericks OS. My Snow Leopard install disk ejects when I try and use it.

Do a backup, preferable 2 separate ones on 2 drives. Boot to the Recovery Volume (command - R on a restart or hold down the option/alt key during a restart and select Recovery Volume). Run Disk Utility Verify/Repair and Repair Permissions until you get no errors. Reformat the drive using Disk Utility/Erase Mac OS Extended (Journaled), then click the Option button and select GUID. Then re-install the OS.
OS X Recovery
OS X Recovery (2)
When you reboot, use Setup Assistant to restore your data.

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How do I erase a hard drive from within the system itself?

I want to erase everything on my hard drive as I want to give it away to someone. It has Lion on it.
How do I do this?
I tried to erase using Disk Utility but the disks were grayed out.
I have saved all the data on another disk so I can completely erase the drive.

I ended up doing it by booting with Lion Recovery (it was a Lion machine), obtained by booting and pressing down the Option key.
Then I went to Disk Utility and erased the internal hard disk.
But afterwards, when I tried to do Lion Recovery, I couldn't. Maybe because my Internet connection was poor. I was at a hotel. I think you need an internet connection to get Lion OS downloaded on your computer.
It didn't really matter anyway as I the person who I gave it to can get Lion on the machine easily.

How do I erase the hard drive on my 2007 Macbook with operating system 10.4.11 ?

I am going to recycle my old Macbook and want to erase the hard drive. When I go into utilities-disk utility-click on Macintosh HD-and the Erase tab, the only active button is Erase Free Space. The Security Options and Erase button are not active. How can I erase the entire hard drive? The operating system is 10.4.11.

You have to boot to another drive. You cannot erase the drive to which you are booted. Typically you would use the system installer discs that were provided with the computer originally.
Alternatively you can use another computer which is running OSX and put the old one in Target Disk Mode. The old one will simply be seen as a normal hard drive which you can erase.
How to use FireWire target disk mode - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661 - includes description of hardware and software requirements. [What to do if your Mac doesn't enter FireWire Target Disk Mode|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75414], also read about [Open Firmware Password Protection|http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/openfirmwarepassword.html] which can disable Target Disk Mode.

With Lion, How Can I Erase the Hard Drive and Reinstall The System Software?

I plan on buying a used iMac with a Core 2 Duo so that I can run Lion. Since Lion can only be purchased at the Mac App store what if I needed to erase my hard drive and re-install the system software. How can I do this without a DVD with the OS on it like I have for Snow Leapard. I suppose that I could boot from my Snow Leapard DVD and do the erase. Then, I supposed I would be able to download Lion again from the Mac App Store without paying for it again. But, how would you erase a hard drive and reinstall the system software when purchasing a new Mac with Lion already installed and no DVD at all with the OS on it?
-- Kaydell

When someone purchases any Apple computer with a DVD Drive, they should have recieved two DVDs... One contains the Operating System (up to Snow Leopard, Lion no longer ships on DVD) and the other contains the SYSTEM SOFTWARE (i.e. iLife and iWork). To install the software, they just insert the DVD with the SYSTEM SOFTWARE into any compatible Mac and run the installer. There is no need to erase the hard drive to install SYSTEM SOFTWARE. Maybe a friend can let you borrow the SYSTEM SOFTWARE DVD. The other option is to purchase the software via the App Store.
FYI... App Store purchases are linked to the PURCHASER'S APPLE ID. So if you buy a used Mac from a friend and that Mac already has Lion installed on it,that Lion purchase is linked to YOUR FRIEND'S APPLE ID, not yours. So if you want to download Lion again, you will have to enter your FRIEND'S APPLE ID AND PASSWORD. You can always have your friend re-download Lion and make you a DVD copy.

How do I erase the hard drive on my mac mini with OS X lion

How do I erase the hard drive on my mac mini with os x lion

Restart with the Command and R keys held down and use the Disk Utility from there.
(127020)

How can I erase my hard drive?

I just sold my computer. How can I erase the hard drive? Thanks1

To prepare it for sale you should follow these instructions:
What to do before selling or giving away your Mac
In addition to the above:
If you enabled FileVault, disable it in System Preferences > Security & Privacy.
"Deauthorize" your iTunes account. Same for Audible if you have one.
System Preferences > iCloud > de-select "Back to My Mac" and "Find my Mac".
Sign out of iCloud. Select "Delete from Mac" when it appears.
Then:
Start your Mac with its original System Installation DVD (if your Mac shipped with one) or OS X Recovery (if it didn’t).
Remove any Open Firmware password if you created one: select Firmware Password Utility from the Utilities menu and remove it.
Select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
Remove any partitions you may have created.
Select the Mac's hard disk icon, then select the "Erase" tab.
Select the "Security Options" button and erase the disk.
The more "securely" you erase the disk, the longer it will take. The fastest method is sufficient since all but the most expensive techniques and equipment will be able to recover securely erased data.
When it finishes, quit Disk Utility.
Select Install Mac OS X from the Utilities menu. Do not create any user accounts.
When it finishes, shut down the computer.
If you want to install the bundled apps that were included with your Mac, restart by using your Applications DVD and install the bundled apps.
Don't forget to include any DVDs that came with your iMac, your AppleCare certificate if you bought it, printed documentation, even the box if you still have it.
Execute a bill of sale showing the Mac's serial number.
Once no longer in your possesion, remove the Mac from your devices in My Support Profile.

How can I erase My hard drive. Disk utility only gives me the option of erase free space. I have 27in iMac with Lion and 12 gb ram.

How can I erase my hard drive? Disk utility only gives me the option to erase free space.
Thanks for any assistance.

Drive Preparation for Lion
1. Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU to return to the main menu.
5. Select Reinstall Lion then click on the Continue button. You need an active network connection in order to download the Lion software.

How do i erase the hard drive and reinstall?

How do i erase the hard drive and reinstall everything? My computer is running slow and i thought with having a 2.4ghz processor and 4gb of ram would make speed not a factor but obviously i was wrong in that my comp is running slow. Not as slow as my pentium processor desktop but its too slow for my tastes. Im waiting to get an external hd so i can save my songs and pictures to before i do erase everything.

Go to finder and in Spotlight, type in erase and install. The second choice is "Reinstall OS X. Print that out and follow the directions.
Good Luck.
Adam

How do I erase the Hard drive????

My iBook is about 4 or 5 years old with a brand new 80GB hard drive and brand new Charger plug. Now my logic board is broken and I don't want to put any more money in fixing it. So I just want to sell it but want to erase the hard drive first. Anybody can tell me how to do that?

ElkeTheStallion, welcome to Apple Discussions.
Here's how I understand your request.
You have an iBook that is inop due to a logic board failure. This precludes booting the iBook with a CD/DVD to use Disk Utility to erase the HD. You also can't boot the iBook in Target Disk mode to interface with your MacBook to erase the HD.
So your only alternative is to remove the HD from the iBook and install it in an external drive housing - USB or Firewire (best). Then you can interface the HD to your MacBook to retrieve the files & transfer to your MacBook & then erase.
These links give the instructions for removing the HD.
Fix It Guides for Mac Laptops & Mini
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/
The guides can be viewed on-line or you can download a PDF file.
How to Upgrade, Repair, Disassemble an Apple/Macintosh Laptop or Notebook
http://repair4laptop.org/disassembly_apple.html
PowerBookTech
http://www.powerbooktech.com/
Suggestion - If you are going to sell the iBook for parts, don't reinstall the HD. It won't bring you much more $ in a laptop that won't work. Retain the 80GB HD and use it as a backup for your MacBook.
 Cheers, Tom

How do I erase a hard drive

I got a " new to me" computer and want to fire wire my old computer over. Problem is "new to me" computer still has stuff on it and I need to erase the harddrive so that I can swith my computer over. Any one know how to do this?

What you need is the install disk for your "new to you" machine. Boot from that and you can erase the hard drive and then reinstall the original OS.
There may be another way, but would need to know the exact OS versions:
Which OS version did the "new to you" machine come with (originally, if it was upgraded), and
which version is on your own old computer (the one you want to move data from)?

Hi, how do I erase my hard drive on a macbook pro?

Hi - can anyone help|? I am trying to erase my hard drive and I have been told to go in to Disk Utility and click Erase, then Erase again but the second "Erase" is greyed out. Any ideas how to ungrey the second "erase" button.
Thanks

cfirebrace wrote:
Thank you for being so helpful. Do I just hold down Alt? It does nothing!!
When starting or restarting the computer, At Boot or ReBoot. And in the Mac World it is really the Option key, Alt is used for PC users that make the switch to Mac.

How do I erase my hard drive

Little help, please. I want to erase the hard drive on my iMac so we sell it. I do not want any data inadvertently passed onto the next user. I am familiar with disk utility and have gone there but when I click on the hard drive it is subdue and I am unable to select the security options or the erase key. Can you help, please. Must be doing something wrong...
Thanks,

If the computer did not originally comes with Lion on it then 1) you cannot sell it with Lion on it because Lion upgrades are attached to your AppleID and it's also a violation of the license agreement. You will need to contact Apple and purchase the original OS X install discs as I mentioned in my original post.
However IF your machine is a mid 2011 iMac that came with Lion pre-installed already then you need to boot into the Recovery Volume and use Disk Utility to Erase your disk. How you do that is:
When you hear the start-up tone hold down the Option key and choose the Recovery Volume and choose Disk Utility.
Click the erase tab and make sure the Format is set to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and click erase.
Then to reinstall Lion on the HD, exit Disk Utility and choose Reinstall Mac OS X.

How can I erase the hard drive securely?

I want to sell my old iMac G3 with OS 9.2. First I'd like to erase the hard drive securely, so that no information can be recovered later. OS X allows you to do this easily with the Erase tab in Disk Utility. Can anyone advise how this can be done in OS 9.2?

Hi, iHope -
To do a reasonably secure wipe of the hard drive, use OS 9's Drive Setup utility while booted to an OS 9 Install CD - it's in the Utilities folder on such a disk. Select the Zero all Data item in the Initialization Options item in the Functions menu of Drive Setup.
This article provides excellent step-by-step instructions - Using Drive Setup

How can I erase my hard drive if the Installer can't find it?

Our iBook, 10.3.9, was pretty reliable for 5 years, but it started to work slower the past days (maybe thru too little free space or too many programs open at the same time), so we restarted a lot.. until it didn't restart but came up with the question mark; then with a black screen/white letters asking for a login. But what is my login? I only know my admin password.
I ran DiskUtility and repaired the permissions and wanted to repair the disk as well, but it said (in red letters): unable, could not unmount disk.
I tried Archive and Install, but it stopped halfway and said there was an error, try again later. I didn't try again, but managed to save most of my documents to another iBook (10.4.3) thru FireWire Target mode.
Then I was ready for Erase & Install.
When I first got this iBook, I had a big accident and had to erase and install, at which time an Apple tech person advised me to first install 10.1 and then 10.2 ('cause this iBook was first made with 10.1, it had 10.2 when I bought it). So this morning I put my 10.1 install CD in and selected Disk Utility to Erase the hard drive. This was recommended in another thread to erase all faulty blocks on a computer. I must say the hard drive itself (below the '27 GB OSX' thing with the triangle in front of it) was already greyed out, but I selected this triangle thing and said erase.
Then I went back into the Installer but... it can't find any hard drive to install OSX on. It shows just one blank space...
The strangest thing is that one time this morning when I opened the iBook, it started up just like normal! But it worked too slow, it wasn't fine, so I restarted and then the problems came back just the same. Now I'm back atthe black screen with white letters. It makes me think though that not all is lost with this computer, which my family hopes with me.
What can I do???
ibook Mac OS X (10.3.7)

Cornelius,
ask as many questions as necessary! I know it is a confusing situation.
Your profile lists OS X 10.3.7.
I believe I upgraded last year to 10.3.9.
Do you have a Full Retail Version of Panther available for re-install?
Yes.
What OS version(s) do you have a full retail version for?
For 10.1, 10.2 and 10.3.2.
Do you have an OS currently installed on your computer?
I don't know...
This morning I had set my mind to do the Erase & Install. I inserted the 10.1 disk, opened DUtility and selected "Erase" from the tablist. At that point the hard drive under the top-triangle was already grey I believe. I selected the top line, or the grey line, am not sure which was last. The computer started to spin. I can't tell if it erased anything at that point. But I know that once the computer stopped spinning its operationwheel, I quit DU and went on trying to install, but then there was no installation disc available. There was just a blanc field.
There was nothing else to do but restart, and at that point the computer opened up with a desktop like normal. I know it sounds crazy.
But it didn't work well. I could open a jpg-file in "Preview", but went in "Mail" and it took forever to open a message, at which point I restarted.
And since then, the normal desktop hasn't shown up anymore.
Whenever I restart, I keep getting stuck at 1. a flashing icon with the picture of a globe, which changes into
2. the question-mark, then
3. the window "Mac OS" with the blue stripe, filling up almost all the way and then
3. a black screen with white letters. If I type something and press return, it asks for password. If I type anything and press return, it says 'login incorrect', and then I see a new screen with "Darwin/BSD (X-3.local) (console)..... next line: "login: "
I don't know what my login could be.
I have since started up from the 10.3 CD, but also only saw a blank field where there should be an icon of my hard drive. (at 'select destination').
Since my post, I used my Apple Hardware Test-CD, and that gave a pass. It said "No device found" for AirPort and Mass Storage. "Device found" for Modem and "Passed" for Logic Board, Memory and VideoRAM.
In any case, what I want to do is still to Erase & Install, because something seems to be very wrong and my stuff is safely backed up.
Looking forward to your answer. Thanks a lot.
ibook Mac OS X (10.3.7)

I need to erase my hard drive. But the disks are grey when I go to Disk Utility. How can I erase the hard drive?

I need to erase my hard drive. But the drives are grey when I go to Disk Utility.

Restart the computer with the Command and R keys held down and use the Disk Utility from there. If you're going to sell or give away the computer, press Option as well.
(107083)

How do I erase my hard drive? My initial operating system was Snow Leopard but I have upgraded to Mavericks OS. My Snow Leopard install disk ejects when I try and use it.

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