How do I clear my hard drive?

I want to clean off my hard drive before selling. How do I make this happen?

Boot your Mac mini from the original installation CD/DVD and as part of the options where it asks you where you want to install the new operating system change it to "Erase and install".
If you really want to be paranoid, as soon as you have access to the menus open Disk Utility and erase the drive there with a write of zeros a number of times.

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Selling my power mac G5, how do i clear the hard drive?

hello!
i am going to be selling my power mac G5. how do i clear the hard drive of all of my stuff, so the new owner has a fresh "new" mac?

Click here, and then follow the instructions in the article which relates to your situation.
(25054)

How Can I clear the hard drive and install Tiger?

I bought a used iBook. I do not have the original discs, but I do have Tiger on DVD. Is it possible to clear the hard drive completley and put on a fresh copy of Tiger? How can I do this?

Rolesh:
Formatting, Partitioning Erasing a Hard Disk Drive
• With computer shut down insert install disk in optical drive.
• Hit Power button and immediately after chime hold down the "C" key.
• Select language
• Go to the Utilities menu (Tiger) Installer menu (Panther & earlier) and launch Disk Utility.
• Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in left side bar.
• Select Partition tab in main panel. (You are about to create a single partition volume.)
• Click on Options button
• Select Apple Partition Map (PPC Macs) or GUID Partition Table (Intel Macs)
• Click OK
• Select number of partitions in pull-down menu above Volume diagram.
(Note 1: One partition is normally preferable for an internal HDD.)
• Type in name in Name field (usually Macintosh HD)
• Select Volume Format as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
• Click Partition button at bottom of panel.
• Select Erase tab
• Select the sub-volume (indented) under Manufacturer ID (usually Macintosh HD).
• Check to be sure your Volume Name and Volume Format are correct.
• Click Erase button
• Quit Disk Utility.
Open installer and begin installation process.
Installation Process
(If you are still booted from the install disk skip first three steps)
• With computer shut down insert install disk in optical drive.
• Hit Power button and immediately after chime hold down the "C" key.
• Select language
• Open Installer and begin installation.
• Select installation option
• Choose to Customize and deselect Foreign Language Translations and Additional Printer drivers.
Optional: Check box to install X11 (Tiger and later) BSD Subsystems (Panther & earlier).
• Proceed with installation.
• After installation computer will restart for setup.
• After setup, reboot computer.
• Go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.
• Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in left side bar.
• Select First Aid in main panel.
• Click Repair Disk Permissions.
• Connect to Internet.
• Download and install Mac OS X 10.4.11 Combo update (PPC) (Tiger)
Computer will restart.
• Repair Disk Permissions as previously.
• Go to Apple Menu > Software Update.
• Install all updates.
Computer may restart after updates.
• Go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.
• Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in left side bar.
• Select First Aid in main panel.
• Click Repair Disk Permissions.
Please post back with questions, comments or update.
Good luck.
cornelius

I can not download movies on Apple TV, message says the disc is full. How do I clear the hard drive?

I can not download movies to Apple TV, error message halts download and says "disc is full". How do I clear the disc/hard drive for apple tv?

I can not download movies to Apple TV, error message halts download and says "disc is full". How do I clear the disc/hard drive for apple tv?

How can I clear my hard drive, and still keep lion?

I really don't want to have to buy OS X Lion again, and I really need to erase my hard drive...is there a way that I can accomplish both? I cannot find the files to create a bootable hard drive or DVD, where are they supposed to be? Thanks

Zackh.Tucker wrote:
Is there a way to have lion, and sell the computer to someone so they dont have to buy it when they get it? I need to erase my harddrive, but I'd like the buyer to be running lion when they get it.
No that is a violation of the Lion License agreement. When you sell a Mac that has had Lion installed on it the new owner has to buy their own license of Lion. The reason being is the license of Lion you purchased is tied to YOUR AppleID!
If you have promised the buyer the machine would come with Lion then you will need to refund them $29.99 which is the cost of Lion. In addition if you sell the machine with any application software you must surrender the original DVD's and/or license keys for that software so the new owner isn't stealing the software.
You will probably benefit by reading:
Prepare a Mac For Sale
Preparing your Mac for sale

How do I clear the hard drive

How do I put this iMac back to factory settings?? Late 2013 model with Yosemite 10.10???

Click here and follow the instructions.
(115735)

How do I clear up hard drive space?

I have a mac air and when I check the sytem for memory there is 64 Gb used up by back up. I have a Airport and it is backing up there. So how do I get the backup off the computer?

Disk space / Time Machine ?/ Local Snapshots
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4878
Computer will delete local snapshots if storage space is needed.

How do i wipe my hard drive and install Mountain lion

OK i wanted to install mavrick but i got my macbook pro in june of 2007 so it's to old. The command R does nothing when i reboot, and everything i find online about clearing my hard drive and getting ready to install mountain lion has that step in it. So how do i clear my hard drive so my computer is brand new like the day i bought it and also update my OS from snow leapard. Do i need to buy the disk for mountain lion or can i just download it? if someone has a link to something helpful i would love to have it.. Thanks

If you can't run Mavericks, you can't run Mountain Lion because they have the same hardware requirements.
Check that your computer is compatible with Mountain Lion/Mavericks.
To check the model number hold down the option/alt key, go to the Apple menu and select System Information.
MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer) model number 3,1 or higher
Your Mac needs:
OS X v10.6.8 or OS X Lion already installed
2 GB or more of memory (More is better - 4 GB minimum seems to be the consensus)
8 GB or more of available space
If your computer isn’t compatible, you might be able to upgrade to Lion.
Computer Compatibility - Lion                       Lion
Check to make sure your applications are compatible. PowerPC applications are no longer supported after 10.6.
Application Compatibility
Applications Compatibility (2)

How to partition 120 GB hard drive MacBook for OSX+Win (BC+Par.)? Fat/NFTS?

After many happy years with my PowerBook G4 12" (I will miss it definitely, as compact and cute as it is ;-() I'll now switch to a new MacBook 2.16 GHz with 2 GB RAM and a 120 GB hard drive.
I will have to use Windows (not yet sure if XP or Vista), as I need special software not available for the Mac, so my choice will be Parallels, so that I can work in Os X and at the same time use those Windows Apps I need.
However, I also want to be able to boot Windows-only with BootCamp, so I already learned I have to install Windows on its own partition.
So my question is:
How shall I partition the hard drive?
* If I have one big partition for OSX + documents and the rest (maybe 30 or 40 GB) for Windows, I won't be able to access my documents from Windows, right?
* So I would have to keep the data I want to access from within Windows on a PC formatted partition (if I don't want to pay for a software like MacDrive)?
Or can Windows running in Parallels read from a HFS partition?
* Does this mean: if I want to access (read and write) my documents in OSX and Windows, I have to keep them on a Fat32 partition?
-> This could be the partition where Windows is installed (but I'm not sure if I feel comfortable with that solution) of I would need a 3rd partition (Fat32) for data which would cause quite a big "segmentation" of the hard drive.
How did you resolve this problem?
Unfortunately, I don't see that I could really "separate" data I only have to access from Windows and those I only want to access in OS X, so in my opinion for me they all have to be in one place.
Looking forward to your comments,
Martin
MacBook 2.16 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 120 GB HD (white) Mac OS X (10.4.9)

You should probably ask all your Boot Camp quesitons in the Boot Camp discussions:
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1165
And your Parallels questions in the Parallels forums:
http://forums.parallels.com

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
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/systems/imac_g4/imacg4_takeapart.html
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).

I have a late 2008 Macbook Pro last updated to Mavericks OS. The screen died and it's not worth replacing. How do I remove the hard drive and use a drive sled to access info I need?

I have a late 2008 Macbook Pro last updated to the Mavericks OS. The screen died and I took it into an Apple store and was told replacing the screen and the hardware to repair everything would cost almost as much as buying a new laptop or a cheaper model. I was told that I can use a drive sled to access data I need on my hard drive. How do I remove my hard drive and use a drive sled to get to the information I need? What makes matters more complicated is I need to update my iPhone and my iTunes/App store purchases. How can I accomplish this?
My wife has a late 2008 Macbook Pro as well, which I am assuming I need to run my hard drive. Is there a way to just access just my hard drive without interfering with hers?
I know this is lengthy. Thanks to whoever looks at this and offers advice/instruction.

the device you need is an External enclosure for a 2.5" (laptop form factor) SATA drive.
A USB-interface enclosure will be slow, but is adequate for this task and for re-purposing as a backup drive later. A firewire-interface drive would be faster, but is harder to find, more expensive, and faster than needed for this purpose.
The drive will mount as an "extra" drive on your wife's Macbook, and you can drag and drop whatever you wish. You could create a separate Account for yourself on her computer, and use Migration Assistant or just copy your stuff over to the new account. Then it would not interfere with her files.

New MacBook pro how do I add external hard drive which has my entire iTunes library on it. Do I just drag external drive icon into iTunes preference box that shows where new itunes library is now located ie. On the MacBook pro.

how do I add external hard drive which contains my entire iTunes library to new MacBook Pro. i want to keep iTunes library on external hard drive. But I want all my iTunes information: artist, songs, albums, playlists on my new MacBook Pro. I know about going to iTunes preferences- advanced-itunes media folder location. At this point I don't know what to do Do I drag external icon into iTunes media folder location box. I want to keep music files on external hard drive. I don't want to use macbook pro memory for my very large music files.

I will request that your query be relocated to the iPhoto forum where knowledgeable iPhoto users will be able to assist you.
Ciao.

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?

HT1635 How do I know which Hard Drive to get for my MacBook 2006? The old Hard Drive is a Toshiba (MK8034GSX) S/N Z6APT2XUT 9H5 EC. A?

How do I know which Hard Drive to get for my MacBook 2006? The old Hard Drive is a Toshiba (MK8034GSX) S/N Z6APT2XUT 9H5 EC. A?

I've put a 250gb 7200rpm drive in an Early 2006 with no problems.
For a new hard drive try Newegg.com http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=380&name=Laptop-Hard-Dr ives&Order=PRICE
Or OWC http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/
Here are instructions on replacing the hard drive in a MacBook with a removable battery. http://creativemac.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=45088
To transfer your current hard drive I like the free application Carbon Copy Cloner. It makes a bootable copy of everything on your hard drive http://www.bombich.com/index.html You'll need a cheap SATA external hard drive case. Put the new drive in the case then format and partition the new drive and clone your old drive to the new one. Check that it's set up right by booting up from the external drive. Then replace your old hard drive with the new one and put your old one in the external case.
Here's a cheap SATA external hard drive case on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/HDE-SATA-Hard-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B001AAVA08/ref=pd_bxgy_pc _text_b
If you don’t have the tools to open up the MacBook OWC has a set for $5
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TOOLKITMHD/

How do you know a hard drive is bad?

how do you know a hard drive is bad?

From the OS X "Help" system:
Check whether a disk is about to fail
You can check the health of many disks in Disk Utility. Many disks include Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T) hardware, which lets a disk test itself for potential problems.
Open Disk Utility.
Select the disk in the list at the left.
If you see a message saying the disk has a fatal hardware error, the disk has an irreparable hardware problem that can’t be fixed by Disk Utility or any other utility that repairs software problems. Back up as much of the data on the disk as possible, and then replace the disk.
If you don’t see a message saying the disk has a hardware error but you still have problems with the disk, you can try to repair it with Disk Utility.

How do I clear my hard drive?

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