Wiping a hard drive on a dead iBook?

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Hello everyone



I have a G4 iBook that is just shy of two years old. Recently, the hard drive started making humming sounds, which lead me to believe my hard drive was failing. But, on Apple's forums it was suggested that there might've been a cable loose. I was planning to replace the hard drive myself, so I performed a little "exploratory surgery" a few days ago to make sure the problem wasn't something I could fix without a new hard drive. By the time I got it opened, I found that the hard drive cable was extremely loose, so I popped it back into the slot, hooked up everything exactly as it should've been. But when I turned it on, it only worked for about 15 minutes before the screen went black (but with the backlight still on), and then it powered off and refused to turn on at all. I figure something must've been blown on the motherboard or in the power supply unit because I smelled the familiar smell of burnt electronics (I work for Radioshack so I recognize that smell easily), so I opened it again, but couldn't find the source of the burnt smell, so I put it back together again, and it booted again, but the cursor moved on it's own, and very erratically at that. So I powered it off and grabbed two different mice. I booted it again and tried both mice (since now the trackpad wouldn't respond at all), and they'd both move the cursor, but the only things I could click were the battery meter, the clock, and everything else in that upper right corner. Then it powered off on me again.



So basically, the two questions I have are....



1. What component seems to be the one at fault here?

2. Is there any way to wipe the hard drive without having to buy an external enclosure and wipe it that way?



I ask because I'm planning to try and sell it on eBay for parts/repairs to earn a little extra money for a new laptop, but I would like to have a better idea of what could be wrong with it for the description, and I don't want to send it off to someone if the hard drive can possibly be salvaged and my information taken (I don't really have any sort of sensitive information in there, but I'd rather not have my writing taken by someone).

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    Sorry to bump this, but I really need some advice. I really want to get this on eBay ASAP so I can get the money to replace it ASAP.
  • Reply 2 of 8
    smaxsmax Posts: 361member
    Can you boot it from a CD? You can wipe it with the recovery CD.



    Also: if you CAN boot from a CD but you still get a bunch of problems, it's a hardware problem.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    I know its a hardware problem. That much I know for sure, because like I said, I could smell something had burned out.



    And I don't have an OS X install disc. I had my logic board replaced in September, and the Repair Shop kept the install CD that was in the optical drive.
  • Reply 4 of 8
    Do you have another Mac that you can access? If so, turn on your machine in TargetDisk mode (hold down the T key when turning it on, a blue/yellow screen should come up), then connect the iBook to the other computer using a standard firewire 400 cable.



    The iBook's hard drive should then appear on the other computer's desktop. Then use DiskUtility and secure erase the HD (only use the 7/8 turn erasing option, the 35 x overwrite option takes several days...).
  • Reply 5 of 8
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by gwoodpecker View Post


    Do you have another Mac that you can access? If so, turn on your machine in TargetDisk mode (hold down the T key when turning it on, a blue/yellow screen should come up), then connect the iBook to the other computer using a standard firewire 400 cable.



    The iBook's hard drive should then appear on the other computer's desktop. Then use DiskUtility and secure erase the HD (only use the 7/8 turn erasing option, the 35 x overwrite option takes several days...).



    I can't get any sort of response when I hit the power button, except if I open it, take it apart, and put it back together, and even then I only get access for like five minutes before it shuts itself off.



    Should I even worry? On my hard drive all I stored were videos, music, some random and harmless images, and a few documents that aren't too major. Should I just change my AIM and MSN passwords and forget about it?
  • Reply 6 of 8
    dentondenton Posts: 725member
    No matter what, I would not sell a computer that hadn't had the hard drive wiped. If I were you, I would remove the hard-drive and sell the computer without it. Do you really know that there is nothing on your computer of which you wouldn't want someone nefarious to get ahold? Is the little extra for which the computer would sell "as is" really worth the risk?
  • Reply 7 of 8
    It sounds like you'd have a hard time selling that computer for even $20 in its present state. In thawt case, I'd just trash it or sell it as parts.

    If that's the case, the drive can be removed and secure-erased in a matter of seconds with a 10# sledge hammer.
  • Reply 8 of 8
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by KingOfSomewhereHot View Post


    It sounds like you'd have a hard time selling that computer for even $20 in its present state. In thawt case, I'd just trash it or sell it as parts.

    If that's the case, the drive can be removed and secure-erased in a matter of seconds with a 10# sledge hammer.



    Thanks for the "brilliant" and "helpful" response. I actually just sold it to someone for $270 and combined that with some money from eBay sales to get a new laptop from someone. And I sold it in maybe half a day to a day.



    Quote:

    sell it as parts.



    You do realize that I said in the first post that I intended to sell it for parts, right?



    Oh, and I was able to wipe the hard drive before I sold the system. The buyer was nice enough to send me a device that allowed me to interface the drive with the family computer through USB so I could clear it.
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