Recommended # of "zero out" passes to securely erase hard drive?

I'm selling some old hard drives. Apple's Disk Utility (OS X 10.4.8) provides the ability to "zero out" the data on a hard drive. Options include ability to run 1, 7 or 35 zero out passes. The 7 option will take a day per drive, and the 35, obviously, several days.
Is 1 zero out pass good enough to securely wipe the data? Is running two consecutive 1 zero out passes twice as good as one pass?
thanks!

Depends on how paranoid you really are, how important it is that no data be recoverable, and who might attempt to recover data from the drive.
In most common cases one pass should be sufficient. If you have extremely top secret NSA data on the drive that highly trained spies will attempt to discover and have access to the most sophisticated data recovery equipment, then go for 35 passes.
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http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3263
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Securely erase hard drive to see if bad sectors before using it?

When you get a new backup hard drive, do you securely erase it (write over it with zeros and ones) to ensure that it's working OK and doesn't have excessive bad sectors? I read that that's a good idea to make sure it has a clean bill of health before using it.
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See http://tidbits.com/e/14708 which recommends it. Do note that I've never done it and have ext HDs up to 2 TB in size. It does take a long time.

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I'm upgrading and want to sell my old Mac. Can I erase the hard drive, possibly using Disk Utility, in a way that makes all my old data permanently irretrievable?

Cheapster,
According to Step 7. If you're erasing a disk, select the Install Mac OS 9 Disk Driver checkbox if you plan to start up the disk in Mac OS 9, or if the disk will be connected to a computer running Mac OS 9. (You do not need Mac OS 9 drivers to use the Classic environment.)In other words you will have a blank canvas, and OS 9 installation and drivers would be required to allow dual boot capability.
Enjoy your new Mac. What will it be?
Cheers.
;~)

FAST, free way to securely wipe hard drive

I have to return a 2 TB HD to Amazon (the drive tanked). I used Disk Utility to Zero Out data 7 times, but after 3 passes took almost 12 hours, I canceled in the middle of the 4th pass.
Is my data secure with 3 passes?
Is there freeware to QUICKLY erase or zero out data?
I'm hoping 3 complete passes was enough or that someone knows of free software that shreds or destroys data securely. I'd hate to spend $25 or more just to zero out data on a bad hard drive, but I guess I would if that was the only option.

Even one pass is probably enough for most situations.
According to Apple's Disk Utility description, the fast single-pass "Zero Out Data" option provides "good" security.
And [this electronic recycling company page|http://www.howtowipeyourdrive.com/macintosh.aspx] includes:
Zero Out Data— SECURE for most commercial use - There are forensics utilities that in theory could retrieve some data however they are extremely expensive and time consuming and there are no documented cases of this actually taking place.
And from a MacWorld article, "Saying good-bye to your Mac"
http://www.macworld.com/article/57155/2007/04/oldmac_goodbye.html
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-----------------------------------

Wipe out Internal Mac Book Pro hard drive

I need help on how to wipe out my internal Mac Book Pro hard drive. I used the Mac Office demo and now the demos are no longer usable. How can I wipe out the mac book pro hard drive? Should I contact my Apple Care service center for assistance, since I am paying for that service and they can walk me through the process? I want to clear out to what it was like when I first got the lappy. Help, anyone? Thanks in advance.

Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disk. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.)
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. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled, if supported.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled, if supported.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process will take 30 minutes to an hour or more depending upon the drive size.
Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive.
After formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with the OS X installation. Once OS X has been installed and is running you can then run the installer for the pre-bundled software.

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

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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.

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Well, Apple would probably point out that what you are trying to do violates the EULA.
Technically speaking, however, the issue is that the install/restore DVDs that ship with Macs do not carry all the drivers, or even all of the various versions of libraries that support all of the various models of Macs. The come-with-your-Mac disks are different than the retail versions of the OS (also, the come-with-your-Mac ones bundle iLife, which the retail ones don't).
Because the come-with-your-Mac disk contains only the drivers specific to that generation and model line of Mac, it contains a stub of code that verifies that your hardware matches the driver set on the install/restore DVD.
Your friend has a different model of Mac, with different hardware, so her install/restore disk won't work in yours. Solution: go get the retail boxed version of Leopard.

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
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Even an Apple Store with Genius bar could, in several locations, give the product a look
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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
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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.
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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.
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Good luck & happy computing!
edited

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Hey guys.
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I am running out of memory on my hard drive and need to delete files. How can I see all the files/applications on my hard drive so I can see what is taking up a lot of room?

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Either of these should help.
http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/
http://www.whatsizemac.com/
Or search 'disk size' in the App Store.
Be carefull with what you delete & have a backup BEFORE you start, you may also want to reboot to try to free any memory that may have been written to disk.

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
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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.

HT4236 I've run out of room on my hard drive. I bought an external drive and exported all my albums to the external drive then deleted the albums from iPhoto. I want to sync both from my ext drive and new albums in iPhoto. No dice. Help!

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TigerMom28 wrote:
I've run out of room on my hard drive. I bought an external drive and exported all my albums to the external drive then deleted the albums from iPhoto.
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http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html
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http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1349
http://www.ifixit.com/Device/eMac

Recommended # of "zero out" passes to securely erase hard drive?

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