Wiping the hard drive without functional CD-drive to reinstall OS

Okay, here's the situation.
THE SITUATION: I have a PowerBook G4 12" (purchased in 2004) that I have replaced with a new MacBook Pro 15". I have successfully transferred all of my files, music, etc. to my new computer, and now need to wipe all of my data so I can sell it.
THE PROBLEM: The CD-drive mechanism went out about a year ago & I never had the money to fix it, so I can't simply reformat the drive and then reinstall the OS.
THE QUESTION: Is there something in the Utilities folder that will allow me to successfully wipe the drive without someone having the ability to access my information WITHOUT being able to use the CD-drive, i.e. the original reinstall CD.
Thanks in advance.

Here is how you very carefully stated your problem:
THE PROBLEM: The CD-drive mechanism went out about a year ago & I never had the money to fix it, so I can't simply reformat the drive and then reinstall the OS.
No hint of not having Firewire cable or install disk.
If your optical drive is not working and you do not have the install disk you will need to use, either an install disk or Disk Utility on another installation, either another computer or a clone on an external firewire HDD. For either of those you will need a firewire cable.
Without install disk, firewire cable or access to bootable clone you might just pull the HDD and transfer the computer without an internal HDD or put a new or different HDD in it.
cornelius

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Can I install Mac OS X 10.5 on a Powerbook G4 already running Mac OS X 10.6? I lost my disc of 10.6 and can only find my 10.5 disc as I'm selling my MacBook and wiping the hard drive for a complete reset.

Can I install Mac OS X 10.5 on a Powerbook G4 already running Mac OS X 10.6? I lost my disc of 10.6 and can only find my 10.5 disc as I'm selling my MacBook, and wiping the hard drive for a complete reset.

A PowerBook G4 can't run Snow Leopard OS 10.6, however, it can run Leopard OS 10.5. But you must use a retail (black) Leopard install DVD.
What does the selling of your MacBook have to do with installing Leopard on your PowerBook?
 Cheers, Tom

Wiping the hard drive

Hi
After windows failed and recovery discs did not work, failed on the second disc. If i wiped the hard drive using active killdisc and then used recovery discs (made at time of purchace) what are the chances of if working or do we buy HP recovery discs.
Dv7-1050ea
Windows Vista 32 bit
nothing changed and working ok before windows failed
This question was solved.
View Solution.

Hi,
If your recovery Discs don't work at the moment, there are no downsides as such, it literally just writes zeros to the entire HDD and this can resolve problems with Recovery Discs not working on drives that have been partially wiped - as I mentioned before, it's important to select the (80h) option, then press f10 to wipe all existing partitions before trying your recovery discs again.
There is a similar thread to yours that you may want to read Here.
If you want to try this, you can download and install Killdisk on the link below.
http://software.lsoft.net/KillDiskSuiteFree-Setup.exe
Go to the Kill Disk application you have installed in All Programs, open the main folder, then select Bootable Disk creators and from that select Bootable DOS CD Creator which will burn the bootable ISO to a blank CD.
Do not worry about any warnings as your Recovery DVDs will reformat the HDD.
Regards,
DP-K
****Click the White thumb to say thanks****
****Please mark Accept As Solution if it solves your problem****
****I don't work for HP****
Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience

I wiped the hard drive and cannot reload the applications disk...it says an error occurred.

i wiped the hard drive and now i cannot reload the "applications" disk. it keeps telling me that an error has occured.

It would help to give us more specific and complete information so we can better assist you.

My eMac won't update to 10.5.8 from 10.3.5 after I wiped the hard drive clean

I was wiping the hard drive of my eMac that at the time HAD a good running copy of OS X 10.5.8 on it. Now obviously I did not want to reinstall from a back up because I'm donating the eMac to a non-profit and wanted no data from me, the previous owner, on it..
I do have the original discs, but they only install OS X 10.3.5 on the eMac. When I tried to update the OS to 10.5.8, where I had it running before wiping, I got a message that the "Bill of materials was not included for this package" (or something to that effect), so the eMac would not allow me to update the OS with the newly downloaded software.
Now what?

Thank you both so very much! I have found my Leopard DVD and am installing it as I write this on a different computer. The missing link, no doubt. I presume that after I install the 10.5 Leopard, I can then add the update that sits on my desktop now?
Again, thank you so much.

I wiped the hard drive and lost lightroom...please help before wife kills me...

Hi folks! First post here so go easy on the newb...
Our computer got slammed with a virus a few days back and we had to wipe the hard drive and reinstall everything. So we lost lightroom. The original version we had was downloaded to begin with... so the only serial number we had was wiped with the rest of the hd. (bonehead, i know) We do have an upgrade serial number from when we upgraded our lightroom a while back, but it is useless without the "original SN#" which we don't have.
Is there anything we can do?
Thanks!
Daryl & Haley

Time to get paranoid. For the future, backup everything, especially serial numbers and the like. I have a program in which I store all passwords, logins, serial numbers, etc that I need. Of course it is encrypted and it takes a password to get into it, but that is only ONE password. It is a desktop/mobile application, so it gets synced with my phone. (We travel a lot, so I need this information when we travel). All downloaded products and associated stuff live on an external drive and are backed up to another external drive. There is another copy made occasionally that lives offsite. I put a text file in the "products" directory for each program in which I ALSO have the serial number and any additional information about installation -- like what you need to install an upgrade, etc. I have learned to be paranoid through experiences similar to yours...
I do admit though that the companies are getting much better about forgotten serial numbers than they used to be, so it looks like you are saved this time.
I hope you have a copy of the database and the images? The images are truly irreplaceable, and the database is valuable.
Judy

Do I need to deauthorize a computer if I have wiped the hard drive clean before I sell it?

I am going to sell my computer. I forgot to deauthorize it in itunes. I have already wiped my hard drive clean. Do I need to still deauthorize this computer and how can it be done?

Once the drive has been wiped, the only way to deauthorize is to Deauthorize All from any computer with iTunes installed.
If the intent was to deauthorize the comptuer, that needed to be done prior to wiping the computer.

Wiped the hard drive and the previous users Apple ID is still showing up in itunes.

How can I remove the previous users Apple ID stuff and equally as important, how is it still on there given I wiped the HD? The disc was zero'd out and then the OS reinstalled and it still remains.
When adding purchased items/authorizing the computer, my friend is having an Apple ID box pop up with a random name once, she enters her correct info, a second random name pops up, again she enters her correct information, and it finally gives an error message stating it's already added. I'm most confused by the fact the old Apple ID info is showing up. How can I eliminate/remove the old Apple ID promts?
Full background, it's my old 13" MacBook Pro running its original 10.6.3 software (currently being updated to 10.6.8), I pulled my HD and threw in a spare I had lying around from. then performed the zero, reloaded the drive etc. Any help is appreciated - Thanks!

You may be right, but it is far easier said than done. What do you do when almost all shadows are gone, and the screen picture looks flat and horrible? I asked an Apple specialist who recommended removing pref files. Since there were none I could identify as related to the screen, the only option was to start removing (and putting in a folder on the desktop) the ones that immediately did not seem important. It became a guessing game, and I'm not sure if I have learned a lesson. The lesson I (and I'm sure a lot of others) really need is good helpful descriptions of different categories of pref files and their function. I had that, I could have done what you suggest, remove the right ones and leave the wrong ones alone. If you can guide me to such information, I would indeed be very grateful !

My 2009 MacBook Pro keeps restarting even after I wiped the hard drive and reinstalled OSX.

About a month ago, my laptop started to randomly turn off: I would be using either Chrome, Photoshop (the free CS2 version available from Adobe's website) or Powerpoint, and the screen would go blank. I would then have to hold the power button for a while until the little light at the front of the computer would flicker and it would restart. I brought it to the Mac Store where they tested it and said it looked fine. They suggested I erase my hard drive and reinstall OSX as a precaution.
Fast forward a month, I have been very busy with work and hadn't been able to fix this problem. It wasn't that bad, only once every couple of days, sometimes more, sometimes less, I could work despite this problem.
Then, I installed OSX Mavericks. The installation started in the morning, but, like an idiot, I paused it to go to work. Later on, I completed the installation, it looked fine, but then all day long my laptop would suddenly restart and go to a grey screen that said in multiple languages "Your laptop restarted because of a problem, press any button to continue the restart." A computer technician friend of mine checked it out and said it was probably due to the badly installed OSX and suggested that I erase my hard drive and reinstall OSX.
I backed up all my files, erased the hard drive and reinstalled OSX. Everything looked fine.
Then it happened again.
Any ideas of why this is happening?

Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
The purpose of the test is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party software that loads automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, by a font conflict, or by corruption of the file system or of certain system caches.
Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards, if applicable. Start up in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. You must hold down the shift key twice: once when you turn on the computer, and again when you log in.
Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a Fusion Drive or a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to start up and run than normal, with limited graphics performance, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.
The login screen appears even if you usually login automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
Test while in safe mode. Same problem?
After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

Qosmio G30: How to add the RAID driver without a floppy drive?

I am going to set win xp tomorrow, as far as i remember i will be promted to insert a floppy with additional RAID/SCSI drivers - i guess i need to supply some drivers for XP to see my RAID stripe.
I was able to download 'raid-drv-qog20-xp-1380.zip' but i am afraid to look if my laptop has a floppy drive... How do i add the drivers without a floppy drive?

Hi
Maybe stupid comment but if you can buy Qosmio G30 I presume you can also obtain one used floppy. I have done this few times with Vista and Qosmio G30 and it works well.
Check eBay. You will get used floppy drive for few euros. Otherway try to create CD and if the RAID drive is needed browse to ODD, I didnt try it because I have FDD but you can test it on your Qosmio.

Wiping the hard dive.

I want to completely clear my iMac and begin from scratch because I just think the iMac is running sluggish and think it could do with a clean out. I've used TM to make regular back-ups of the system and all my files etc are on the external HD. So is it possible to wipe the machine (if so how?) then reinstall from TM.
Thanks.

Everyone is absolutely right: don't wipe your hard drive except as a last resort. Slow Mac issues are generally caused by one of three things: RAM over-utilization, too little free space on your hard drive or various, esoteric issues with system permissions and the like.
Assuming you have already done the basics (emptied your Trash and restarted), I would do the following to solve most common problems.
--Check your boot drive to make sure you have at least 10% of it empty (for instance, you need at least 50GB of free space on a 500GB hard drive). If you don't, you need to clear up some space. Good (free) apps that can help with this are GrandPerspective and WhatSize, but there are lots of others.
--Open up Activity Monitor (Applications>Utilities>Activity Monitor) and look at the system memory tab, specifically at page ins and page outs. If page outs are 10% or greater of page ins, you can use more memory for what you run. A page out occurs when there isn't enough memory to run all that's being requested, so OS X writes some memory to the hard drive to make room for something else. Too much and performance suffers. There are a lot of good blog posts around detailing how to minimize RAM usage on startup that you might want to take a look at.
--Download and run Onyx to fix system permissions and free up some additional space on your hard drive.
You might want to check this out, too: http://www.tireddonkey.com/files/SpeedUpMac.html
Good Luck

Re installing after wiping the hard drive

I had to wipe my hard drive and have just reinstalled. But how do I get my After Effects and premier pro to start working again. I can't seem to open my last projects.
The tech at the Mac store (I have a MacBook pro) did say something about reinstalling my Creative Cloud. How do you do this?

The same way you did the first time
http://www.adobe.com/products/creativecloud/faq.html
http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/install-apps.html to install or uninstall
http://forums.adobe.com/community/download_install_setup/creative_cloud_faq
What it is http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/creative-cloud-desktop.html
Cloud Getting Started https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud.html

Recovering Music After Wiping The Hard-Drive

I just recently had to do a full system restore on my comp. All the songs I had bought from itunes was deleted in the process. I can access my purchase history though itunes and was wondering if there was anyway to get them back.

This is why it is basic to maintain a backup.
Use your backup to put them back on.
If for some reason you have failed to maintain a backup (terrible idea), then you can transfer itunes purchases from an ipod:
File>Transfer Purchases
"PRODUCTS CAN ONLY BE DOWNLOADED ONCE; AFTER BEING DOWNLOADED, THEY CANNOT BE REPLACED IF LOST FOR ANY REASON. YOU SHALL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR BACKING UP YOUR OWN SYSTEM"
http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/us/terms.html

How can I download all my iTunes music after wiping my hard disk without going into each of the 100 artists listed

Hi - I have recently had to wipe my hard disk which meant all my music has gone with it so I have an empty iTunes music library.
The only way I can see of doing it is
- going to the store
- selecting Purchased
- then I get a list of artists or albums down the left hand side
- have to select each individually and click Download All on the bottom left - for over 100+ its going to take forever ! Is there an easier way ?????
Thanks !

You can only sync your device to one iTunes library at a time. You can either copy the music from the library on your other computer to the one you have loaded the new CDs onto, or you can purchase an external CD Drive and load them to the iTunes library you are currently sync'd with:
iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer
http://store.apple.com/us/search/External-CD-DVD---SuperDrive
For syncing, I am not familiar with the drag and drop method. I have always used the normal sync process:
iTunes 12 for Mac: Sync iPod, iPhone, or iPad
iTunes 12 for Windows: Sync iPod, iPhone, or iPad
Cheers,
GB

NB500: How to use the Recovery DVD without a DVD drive in the netbook?

Background:
I have a Netbook NB 500 which came with a Win7 Starter. I upgraded to Win8 but didn't like it as the screen resolution wsn't high enough to open Apps. As the system became slower and slower over time, I decided to reset the unit back to original settings using the Win8 function.
The progress on this process was extremely slow and after seven hours (about 60% done) I got a fright that the content of my HDD might be copied somewhere onto the web (NSA cloud? :) ) .
I switched the unit off and from there nothing would work anymore. I bought recovery software with WIN7 Starter from Toshiba Support as I couldn't find an ISO file for WIN7 starter, but it arrived on a DVD...
I do have:
+ NB 500
+ Toshiba Recovery DVD
+ Bootable USB stick (I created this)
+ Product Key for Win7 Starter
Question:
What files are necessary in order to install Win7 from scratch (move files from DVD to bootable USB stick)?
Will this procedure delete the old data from HDD or will it still take up space?
Regards
LS1-d

It is not simply as you think it is. As far as I know you cannot manipulate recovery data and work on your own bootable media.
Best and simplest way for you is to obtain somewhere external USB ODD and use it for recovery image installation. I have NB520 and I have bought external BD ODD and can use it for different actions like software installation for instance.
Im really wondering you didnt create recovery USB stick. It was my first step after I bought this machine. Product key that you have on Microsoft sticker is useless. You cannot use it for OS installation if you use own OS version and you dont need it if you use original recovery image.
After recovery image installation preinstalled Windows version will be properly activated.
> Will this procedure delete the old data from HDD or will it still take up space?
Yes. The whole HDD will be deleted so before you start with recovery image installation back-up all your important data.

Wiping the hard drive without functional CD-drive to reinstall OS

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