How to wipe an iMac hard drive in 10.5.8

I have to start up using another disc in order to erase the drive.  I have install/restore discs for 10.2 and 10.3, but not 10.5.  Will one of these work?  How do I get to Disc Utility on one of these?

It would be best to have the Mac OS X 10.5 DVD to erase and reinstall the OS.  Take a look at this link, http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1544

Similar Messages

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    I accidently removed my iMac Hard Drive icon from desktop.  Is there a way to bring it back?

    Thanks for your response.
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    Show Scroll Bars
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    Turn off Text Smoothing for Font Sizes
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  • How can I wipe my imac hard drive if the imac is not recognising my keyboard

    I fell into the same trap many others have with installing Windows via bootcamp & not setting up the hard drive formatting properly. So I've got a "Disk error. Press any key to restart message."
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    If your keyboard is a non-Apple one, then startup commands may not be embedded. In this case, using an Apple keyboard should work, such as the original one that came with the machine.
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  • Want to wipe old iMac hard drive

    I have an old iMac (circa 1998) with OS 9.2 installed. The thing hasn't worked for years, and it's been collecting dust in my attic. In fact, I no longer use Mac computers at all. Now I'm moving, and want to recycle the thing. Before I take it in, I'd like to wipe the hard drive.
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    There probably is/was a disk utility for your Windows box that could've
    wiped the hard disk drive in the Mac, if the old Mac had FireWire ports
    and the PC, also. Then, if the Mac wasn't too old to do it, you'd start
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    A hammer does OK; but still leaves those data platters inside in fine shape.
    An expert could take apart a similar hard disk drive and swap out the platters.
    If you have a huge electro-magnet, set it on top of the hard disk drive, awhile.
    {A buddy has a hydraulic press and a large forge. The aluminum melts easy
    and the rest is easily broken into bits or melted into a metal slush puddle.}
    What version iMac G3 was that? There's probably someone in a town
    near you who would pick it up for free; just run an ad in craigslist. Or,
    there are free plans online to convert an iMac G3 into a dry fish bowl
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    Glad to hear you were able to make an impact on settling the initial concerns.
    Good luck & happy computing!

  • How do i reformat imac hard drive and restore time machine backup?

    How do I reformat my iMac internal hard drive and restore from a Time Machine backup?
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    Was getting a question mark upon booting up, so I booted from a 10.6.3 Snow Leopard CD and ran disk utility. Repair disk was interrupted with an error message. 'Disk utility can't repair disk. Backup files, reformat disk and restore backed up files.'
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    2. If I do this, won't I lose my networkability, and therefore lose access to Time Machine backups?
    3. If it were you, would you go ahead and replace the hard drive? Not sure I should trust this hard drive!
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    Clean Install of Snow Leopard
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             with your computer.  Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.
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             partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button
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    Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
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  • How to wipe Time Capsule hard drive, while leaving all settings intact?

    I have a 1TB TC which has a 500GB volume on it containing photos, music etc which users on my home network all use. The remaining 500GB is now full, with 3 sparsebundles; one backup for each of the macs in our house.
    Recently, Time Machine on my MBP returns the error saying that "backup volume not available" or words to that effect. The other macs still backup fine using TM.
    I would like to completely clear the TC drive, and start again with my backups. I'm going to attach a USB drive to the TC for shared files etc. I have up to date bootable clones of all the macs, so am happy to wipe the TC, save for all the settings on it.
    What's the best way of going about this please? Is it simply to delete the sparsebundles from the Finder, or is there a better way of doing it?
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    AdrianP wrote:
    I would like to completely clear the TC drive, and start again with my backups. I'm going to attach a USB drive to the TC for shared files etc. I have up to date bootable clones of all the macs, so am happy to wipe the TC, save for all the settings on it.
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  • I upgraded my imac hard drive to a 2tb drive. how do i use time machine to get my computer back to normal?

    i upgraded my imac hard drive to a 2tb drive. how do i use time machine to get my computer back to normal?

    Thank you. I followed the faq#14 (using setup wizard from the osx install disk). Everything went just as planned until I woke up this morning and noticed there was no progress on the "transferring documents" meter. It stopped about 1/4 of the way. I can hear the computer working and the bar is somewhat animated like it is advancing but it's not.
    Should I cancel and restart or should I wait it out? It already been about 13 hours since I started the process. Do you think it is my time machine or my iMac? Maybe the time machine file is corrupt or something.
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  • How can I remove the hard drive from an iMac g4 before recycling it?

    How can I remove the hard drive from an iMac g4 before recycling it?

    There are take-apart guides online.  For example
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    However, you can also consider securely erasing the hard drive instead.  You can do this using a Mac OS X installation disc with a version that your iMac G4 can boot from the optical drive.  If this is a viable option, please post back (include Mac OS X version on installation disc).

  • Need to reinstall Photoshop elements on my iMac - hard drive crash and do not have a back-up copy.  How do I get another copy?

    Need to reinstall Photoshop elements on my iMac - hard drive crash and do not have a back-up copy.  How do I get another copy?

    Unfortunately, you're in the wrong forum.  This is not the Elements forum.
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  • How do I share a hard drive with the new iMac to load a disk from macbook pro

    How do I share a hard drive with the new iMac to load a disk from macbook pro. I want to install office for Mac from a disk but dont know how to share har drive from macpro
    thanks

    The new iMac's don' t have DVD drives however almost all have a disk drive. The easiest method of installing MS Office for Mac on your new iMac is to download it from Microsoft and then input the code you received when you purchased your original license. Otherwise you can use the DVD drive on your MBP to install on your iMac, that feature is called Remote Disc. Instructions for Remote Disc can be found at:http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5287

  • My iMac hard drive is full, and I don't know how to fix it.

    My iMac hard drive is full.  Approximately 495GB of "Other" is crushing it.  I saw some threads online refer to this issue ... something to do with ASL files.  Can anyone help?

    First try to download OmniDiskSweeper then launch that to sweep the drive this will give you information on the size of your files and folders.  This will give you a starting point as to what to do with your large files you can move them to an external hard drive or delete them within the program.  Note: Be careful of the items you delete. 

  • 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 to back up a hard drive with Time Machine

    Yesterday I left my MacBook Pro at the airport security check.  I called today and they told me it was gone, probably stolen.  Since I didn't want my files or data to fall into the wrong hands, I used iCloud and logged on to my account, found my MacBook device, and selected Erase Mac.  Lo and Behold, as fate would have it, I received a call from airport security 15 minutes later that they had in fact found it.  Unfortunately, my call to Apple Support indicated that once Erase Mac is selected, it's like pushing the launch button on a nuke.  It cannot be undone.  Further conversations revealed that in order to not completetly lose all my files, I need to back up my MacBook  to another hard drive prior to connecting to WiFi. 
    So, here's my plan.  I have another iMac at my house with approx 500G of available hard drive space.  My plan is once Fed Ex delivers my MacBook, to use Time Machine to back it up.  I've never done this before.  I have a FireWire cable for this task.
    Is my thinking correct for the following steps:
    1. Open MacBook in a Non Wifi environment.
    2. Click on Time Machine Preferences
    3. Connect my MacBook Pro with my iMac using FireWire
    4. Select the Hard Drive from iMac as the source.
    Will there be additional instructions then to follow?
    How will I know when the back up is complete?
    After the back up is done, do I then open the MacBook up in Wifi and allow Erase Mac to run?
    If yes, then how do I transfer the hard drive back to MacBook?
    I know this is a long post, but I want to ensure I'm following the process completely.  Thanks,
    Scott

    Just turn off your wireless router until you can run Time Machine to backup your Mac notebook.
    Or remove the drive from the system and connect it to another Mac and copy all your files off it. But again it would be best to disable any and all Wifi systems in your house before you do that.
    Not sure but there may be a way to turn off the Wipe command and or it is only issued once. Never had to use it so I'm uncertain on how it actually works.

  • 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

  • HT201250 how do i add external hard drive to my time machine back up

    how do i add external hard drive to my time machine back up so that I may view the files independently on apple tv please?

    To elaborate on above.  I am looking to add about 300gig of photos on an external hard drive to TC. 
    Once I do this I believe I can then have itunes source its photos from TC without having them stored directly on my iMac? 
    Then I am assuming once I keep itunes on with home sharing I can stream these photos through Apple TV?
    My inital problem is getting the photos onto TC in an individual folder not just a backup folder....is that possible or what would you suggest please?

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