Need to completely erase hard drive

Hi everyone, I am upgrading to a new imac and am going to sell my old machine on ebay. I would like to know how I can completely erase all my data on the hard disk. Will disk utility get rid of everything? Besides the options in disk utility, is there any 3rd party software for mac that does a better job? Thanks a lot

If you use the Disk Utility to zero all data or otherwise overwrite the information contained on the drive multiple times, the information on it won't be easily recoverable; some organizations, such as the CIA, may still be able to get it back after multiple overwrites. The only way to be absolutely sure that the data can't be recovered is to remove the drive from the machine and either keep or destroy it; more information is available on this page.
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I have an 8 year old eMac G3. It will not start up. I need to erase it before putting it in recycling. Apple refuses to open the case and warns me that I will be shocked if I even try. They say no way to erase hard drive. They say use a hammer. Any ideas?

I have an 8 year old eMac G3. It will not start up. I need to erase it before putting it in recycling. Apple refuses to open the case and warns me that I will be shocked if I even try. They say no way to erase hard drive. They say use a hammer. Any ideas?

Hi, no eMacs had G3s, only G4s. Is it maybe an iMac G3?
If you don't know the model, find the Serial# & use it on one of these sites, but don't post the Serial# here...
http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html
http://www.appleserialnumberinfo.com/Desktop/index.php
How to find the serial number of your Apple hardware product...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1349
http://www.ifixit.com/Device/eMac

Need to erase hard drive and reinstall system on iMac but have misplaced original install disks. Tried to use a my copy of Snow lepord 10.6 from my Mac pro but will not boot. Can original install disks be replaced. Thanks

Need to erase hard drive and reinstall system on iMac but have misplaced original install disks. Tried to use a my copy of Snow lepord 10.6 from my Mac Pro but will not boot. Can original install disks be replaced. Thanks

Yes the original Install Discs can be replaced for a nominal fee. Call AppleCare, you will need a credit card and the serial number of the machine. You can use the AppleCare Contact Info for the phone number on your part of the planet.

What is the best way to recycle 2010 MacBook? Also, it is completely dead and cannot erase hard drive.

What is the best way to recycle old 2010 MacBook? Also, it is completely dead and I cannot erase hard drive.

Depending on where you are located, country, region, etc, you may have options should
you wish to have it professionally restored or repaired to function properly again...
Even an Apple Store with Genius bar could, in several locations, give the product a look
and perhaps be able to diagnose the underlying issues. However that varies with the
degree of failed components and what is really wrong with it. A battery and a new HDD
could be all that's wrong with it. A diagnostic is often free, even on out-of-warranty Mac
at the Apple Store genius bar; an appointment is advised.
However if you only wanted someone to extract the hard disk drive and attach it to
a 'universal USB drive adapter kit' so at to try and access any readable files on it,
that is something that could be done at an Apple Authorized service provider; as
some of them may even have a section of resale products such as this adapter kit.
An example of this kind of kit includes wires, adapter parts, & a separate power supply
so it can be used to run the hard drive's electronics. This is not intended for permanent
use, but works like a set of patch cables to access the bare drive without an enclosure.
https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Mac/Universal-Drive-Adapter/IF107-108-1
Another kit example says it'd work with almost any HDD or SSD of several build types:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/U3NVSPATA/
Companies that specialize in restoring Apple portable computers can give you an estimate
on a repair and the good ones can do that without a fee; they will not start a repair after they
see the computer until you get the estimate, and approve of the repair. If other items are
found to be of interest requiring other work or parts, they will also contact you, again before
continuing. One of these kinds of companies I know about (half a hemisphere away) is in
the eastern US, and worth inquiring of even if you are overseas. wegenermedia.com.
While I have no connection with any of these products or service suggestions, they do have
some variety of good reputation (ifixit.com has DIY repair guides; macsales has parts, etc.)
in standing, among many Mac users across a section of the planet...
Any concerns about the data on the hard disk drive should be able to be answered by a
local Apple independent; they also should have the universal USB drive adapter locally.
Not sure if I answered your inquiry, but there are different ways of approaching this matter.
Good luck & happy computing!
edited

Both of my computers crashed nearly simultanesously due to mal-ware, had to erase hard drives to start over, did not have chance to de-activate either Acrobat or Creative Cloud before they crashed. I need you to retroactively deactivate these two previou

Both of my computers crashed nearly simultanesously due to mal-ware, had to erase hard drives to start over, did not have chance to de-activate either Acrobat or Creative Cloud before they crashed. I need you to retroactively deactivate these two previous computers (one Dell desktop, another a Dell laptop from my university, the University Of Missouri_KC), so that I can re-install on my laptop (which has been repaired by UMKC), and the other on my new private desktop (which replaces my previous desktop, which cannot be salvaged). I have the serial numbers of my two products, if Adobe could request them
Please respond as soon as possible. - Marc Garcelon, [email protected], UMKC email address: [email protected]@

Hi Marc,
Please refer to the help document below for deactivation:
Activation & Deactivation Help
Also, the creative cloud membership can only work on 2 machines. You will receive an error automatically on the third machine.
Regards,
Sheena

Need to wipe the hard drive

I am selling my 2013 MacBook Air and i need to figure out how to wipe all my information from the computer before selling it.
Any help will be appreciated, im ready to slam this computer through a wall.

Follow these instructions step by step to prepare a Mac for sale:
Step One - Back up your data:
       A. If you have any Virtual PCs shut them down. They cannot be in their "fast saved" state. They must be shut down from inside Windows.
       B. Clone to an external drive using using Carbon Copy Cloner.
          1. Open Carbon Copy Cloner.
          2. Select the Source volume from the Select a source drop down menu on the left side.
          3. Select the Destination volume from the Select a destination drop down menu on the right
              side.
          4. Click on the Clone button. If you are prompted about creating a clone of the Recovery HD be
              sure to opt for that.
               Destination means a freshly erased external backup drive. Source means the internal
               startup drive.
Step Two - Prepare the machine for the new buyer:
          1. De-authorize the computer in iTunes! De-authorize both iTunes and Audible accounts.
          2, Remove any Open Firmware passwords or Firmware passwords.
          3. Turn the brightness full up and volume nearly so.
          4. Turn off File Vault, if enabled.
          5. Disable iCloud, if enabled: See.What to do with iCloud before selling your computer
Step Three - Install a fresh OS:
     A. Snow Leopard and earlier versions of OS X
          1. Insert the original OS X install CD/DVD that came with your computer.
          2. Restart the computer while holding down the C key to boot from the CD/DVD.
          3. Select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu; repartition and reformat the internal hard drive.
              Optionally, click on the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass.
          4. Install OS X.
          5. Upon completion DO NOT restart the computer.
          6. Shutdown the computer.
     B. Lion and Mountain Lion (if pre-installed on the computer at purchase*)
         Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because
                   it is three times faster than wireless.
          1. Restart the computer while holding down the COMMAND and R keys until the Mac OS X
              Utilities window appears.
          2. Select Disk Utility from the Mac OS X Utilities window and click on the Continue button.
          3. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the left side list. Click
              on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
          4. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on the Security button
              and set the Zero Data option to one-pass.
          5. Click on the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
          6. Quit DU and return to the Mac OS X Utilities window.
          7. Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
          8. Upon completion shutdown the computer.
*If your computer came with Lion or Mountain Lion pre-installed then you are entitled to transfer your license once. If you purchased Lion or Mountain Lion from the App Store then you cannot transfer your license to another party. In the case of the latter you should install the original version of OS X that came with your computer. You need to repartition the hard drive as well as reformat it; this will assure that the Recovery HD partition is removed. See Step Three above. You may verify these requirements by reviewing your OS X Software License.

Erase hard drive on eMac OS 10

I am trying to erase the hard drive of eMac OS 10.3.9. Tried Command + R keys while rebooting but disk utility wont let me erase. The erase button is not active/greyed out. Is there another way to erase hard drive completely? I dont need to reinstall because I am trying to discard eMac (15 years+ old). I do not have any of the installer CDs since I threw them out.

You could perhaps try a web search for an old PowerPC release (dban-2.0.0_powerpc.iso) of a free disk wiping utility called DBAN. A CD burned from the iso file should allow a PowerPC Mac to start up (hold down the C key) from a small (Linux) system. It would then be possible to test if and how the utility works on your eMac.
Jan

How to Install 10.7 Lion on New Erased hard drive?

I want to install 10.7 on a new, freshly-Erased hard drive.
My hardware supports 10.7.
Can anyone point me to simple instructions how to do this task?
Thank you.

2 ways to buy Lion. $29.99 as a d/l from the App Store (you need Snow Leopard installed). If you own another Mac with Snow Leopard, you can create an installer DVD/USB) or you can buy the Lion Install USB from Apple for $69.
When you boot from the installer, Select Disk Utility, then erase the disk. Then quit Disk Utility and install OSX Lion.
(See also: Installing Lion: Macworld's complete guide)

Do I need to replace my Hard Drive?

My Mid 2012 13" MacBook Pro recently was not able to boot on startup when I reset the NVRAM. I looked on the commands and there was something to do with a hard drive error. I had to reinstall OS X for me to use it again.
Since then my computer has been unusably laggy at times and performance has dropped. YouTube and other videos will lag uncontrollably and Minecraft runs at about 1 FPS. I am also running bootcamp and problems are consistent on Windows 7 as well. Do I need to replace the Hard Drive or just completely reformat it and reinstall OS X from a bootable disk?
THANKYOU

You shoudn't consider replacing your drive unless you know that's the problem. AHT, to the best of my knowledge, does not do surface scans on drives and it can't tell you if you have bad sectors. It can, however, identify other problems so running tests on the system might help you.
Other things to consider are the following:
How much free disk space do you have? If you're running out of disk space the system will not be able to swap out properly or easily and your system will bog down.
How much memory are you using? If you're using a lot then swapping will be rampant and your system will slow down.
Are there problematic applications that don't work properly that are consuming too much memory or hitting your system with a lot of disk reads and writes?
If you're using Mountain Lion, have you upgraded to 10.8.4? If not, do so. A lot of your problems may disappear.
The easiest way to check the first 3 above is with Activity Monitor. You can find a good write up on it with the following link:
http://www.scsc-online.com/Activity%20Monitor.html
I'm sure there are others on the web that are every bit as good as well. If you're still convinced your drive is the problem then check out this link for a list of drive testing tools:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1544280
That list is pretty much the web's de facto standard list of reliable hard drive testing tools currently available for Macs, and it's reasonably up to date, unlike some of the other lists on the web that are 5 years old or older. I really wouldn't assume it's the drive until you check out other stuff first.
Good luck, diddypants.

Trying to back up to external hard drive (iomega). Instructions say to erase hard drive. Won't entirely erase. Can't enter iomega in Time Machine. Computer is minimac, operating system is OSx 10.6.8.

Trying to back up to external hard drive (iomega). Instructions say to erase hard drive. Won't entirely erase. Can't enter iomega in Time Machine. Computer is minimac, operating system is OSx 10.6.8.

All you need to upgrade the iBook for Tiger is another 128 MBs of RAM. It has both Firewire and USB ports. You do want to upgrade it for what you plan to do. The problem you may continue to have, however, may be due to the fact that the age of the computer is such the disk controller does not support hard drive volumes larger than 128 GBs, which is probably the reason the drive won't mount.
The reason you get DU errors is likely because the drive was formatted using the Intel Tiger version of DU, while you were using the Jaguar version. That's a definite no-no.

I needed space on my hard drive and it was suggested to clear the cache by restarting with shift held down. My Aperture library is now missing...help please!

I needed space on my hard drive (iMac- as I do photography part time, and it was suggested to clear the cache by restarting and holding down the shift key. Now most of my Aperture Library is missing and I had senior photos on there for friends....help please.
I heard that Aperture makes alias files when you are editing and that might be what is clogging up my hard drive. I really don't know.

There is nothing that SHIFT reboot does to erase files. Have you restarted normally? It's quite possible that with a full drive you can't start nor can Aperture load its library file.
I don't know who gave you that advice but it's not a viable solution for a full drive:
Freeing Up Space on The Hard Drive
1. See Lion/Mountain Lion/Mavericks' Storage Display.
2. You can remove data from your Home folder except for the /Home/Library/ folder.
3. Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on freeing up space on your hard drive.
4. Also see Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk.
5. See Where did my Disk Space go?.
6. See The Storage Display.
You must Empty the Trash in order to recover the space they occupied on the hard drive.
You should consider replacing the drive with a larger one. Check out OWC for drives, tutorials, and toolkits.
Try using OmniDiskSweeper 1.8 or GrandPerspective to search your drive for large files and where they are located.

In need of a new hard drive for my old G5 computer

Hello there, I'm not as savvy as you are with computers but I am in need of a new hard drive for my old G5 computer that my husband uses. His crashed. If you did it all over again would you buy the same new hard drive? If so, where did you buy it? I don't even know where to start and was SO happy to find this recent post on installing new drives into the G5. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you!
<Title Edited by Host>

I actually just ran across this hard drive oddity for the first time myself just yesterday. It seems that some older Macs may not be able to use the newest SATA interfaces on some hard drives.
I an attempt to not get overly technical, SATA is the current interface type on computer hard drives. You can get some additional information from Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA. There are currently three revisions, SATA-1 (the oldest), SATA-2 (the current version), & SATA-3 (the latest and greatest).
So what happened was that my G5 could not use the SATA-3 drive I purchased because the computer could not support the SATA-3 standard. It was possible to "slow down" one of the other test SATA-3 drives to make it work like a SATA-2 and so it may be possible to do the same to other hard drives.
To answer your question, I would NOT purchase the saem hard drive for my Mac as it does not work for this older Mac.
My suggestion, if you can find one purchase the same hard drive that was in the computer. That way you know it is compatible. If you would like to upgrade, you will have to do some looking. Although I cannot recommend a specific drive, my two favorite companies are Seagate, www.seagate.com and Western Digitial, www.wdc.com. You most likely have a 3.5" drive, if you have a desktop, 2.5" for a laptop. WD has the Cavier line and Seagate has either Barrcuda or Momentus. What you are looking for is capacity.
So, both Seagate and Western Digital are good. You need a 3.5" drive for a desktop or 2.5" drive for a laptop. Stick with a SATA-2 drive also known as a SATA 3Gb/s drive for compatibility. Get a drive that is 7200 RPM or higher. Finally purchase the largest capacity at you can afford. Amazon is a good general place to been looking.
KWCitizen_Apple

Not solved with Blinking Folder with Question Mark after Erasing Hard Drive

Before asking, I found someone had asked exact the same question, but that was actually an unsolved thread.
Re: Blinking Folder with Question Mark after Erasing Hard Drive to try to restore to Factory Settings
Level 1(0 points)sdc3gJul 5, 2013 6:24 PM Re: Blinking Folder with Question Mark after Erasing Hard Drive to try to restore to Factory Settings
Re: Blinking Folder with Question Mark after Erasing Hard Drive to try to restore to Factory Settings
in response to Niel
Thanks for the reply, held command+R again and it is trying to pick up WiFi, but it's not picking up my network and won't accept the password even when I try to put it in manually. Any thoughts on that?
Me too had tried the command+R and failed to manually connect to my network. Can anyone help?

Well, it was solved. I shifted to other place and tried other WIFis. One of the WiFi had the 2002f problem and another was fine, so the reinstall worked smoothly eventually.
On the apple support page it says that Supported network configurations and protocols includs both WPA/WPA2, not matter what they are, but it might not be true.

How do I install OS software on a erased hard drive all I get is folder icon with blinking ?

Trying to install OS10.6 on erased hard drive but just getting folder with blinking ? symbol any ideas?

Startup with the Snow Leopard installation disk ALREADY IN THE DRIVE.
If it pops out, push it back in during startup. It will take a long time, but be patient.

I need a new external hard drive for my iMac8,1

I need a new external hard drive for my :
Model Name:    iMac
Model Identifier:    iMac8,1
Processor Name:    Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed:    3.06 GHz
Number Of Processors:    1
Total Number Of Cores:    2
L2 Cache:    6 MB
Memory:    4 GB
Bus Speed:    1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version:    IM81.00C1.B00
SMC Version (system):    1.30f1
Serial Number (system):    YD8520CD0N4
Hardware UUID:    073B29AD-6FFB-5E64-A52C-BF19A054F363
I do not have Thunderbolt on this and when I look up the specs for USB I get
USB Bus:
Host Controller Location:    Built-in USB
Host Controller Driver:    AppleUSBUHCI
PCI Device ID:    0x2835
PCI Revision ID:    0x0004
PCI Vendor ID:    0x8086
Bus Number:    0x3a
Don't know if this is USB 3.0 or USB 2.0
All the new drives seem to use either Thunderbolt or USB 3.0

I have a Western Digital 2 Terabyte USB External Hard Drive and it works like a charm and it costed me $129.00. My opinion is you can't go wrong with this brand and size for home use.
Cheers
Don

Need to completely erase hard drive

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