Erasing Hard Drive Using Install Disks?

I am selling one of my older Macbooks to someone soon. I was curious if using the install disks to erase the hard drive would be a secure way to erase? Any suggestions to make this process quick and secure? Thanks!

evan127 wrote:
So erasing from the install disk is a secure way to clear the hard drive? I just don't want anyone recovering my files.
There are some things that you just can't do from a system drive. One is erase the system volume by itself, and the other is to repair a volume by itself (although I heard rumors that it might have changed to some degree). If you wipe the drive, you're basically leaving it without an operating system.
And yeah - erasing from the system disc is secure. If you want maximum security, then you have it to a 7-pass erase or greater. I forgot exactly what the options are, but the last time I checked it was a 7-pass and another setting with more passes. What this will do is alternate writing 0s then 1s then 0s, etc until 7 passes erasing the drive with the same data. This is often nicknamed a "government wipe" because a multi-pass erase is claimed to be required for US governement contractors getting rid of hard drives that once contained US gov't information. This is in a manner which even espionage agencies might have difficulty trying to recover.

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