Formatting hard drive

ringo20000ringo20000
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Is there a way to format your hard drive without putting in an os disc? I thought maybe disc utility but I can't select anything when I go to the erase tab and click on my hard drive. I also thought there might be a way to do it through the terminal but I can't find the command. Any help would be appreciated.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    vandewaalsvandewaals Posts: 450member
    You can't erase the drive you are currently using as the boot drive. To format it you have to boot off the OS X install CD instead. Formatting your boot disk is kinda like trying to lift yourself off the ground with your bare hands .
  • Reply 2 of 8
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by VanDeWaals

    You can't erase the drive you are currently using as the boot drive. To format it you have to boot off the OS X install CD instead. Formatting your boot disk is kinda like trying to lift yourself off the ground with your bare hands .



    Nice reference! (*Gives High Five*)



    But yah... you need to boot off a CD, Firewire Drive, anything that is NOT the partition you wish to format.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    drboardrboar Posts: 477member
    I think in the old DOS dark ages that Format :/C or something could actually format the booted drive. Perhaps there is a similar unix command?
  • Reply 4 of 8
    thuh freakthuh freak Posts: 2,664member
    not the same as formatting, but if you wanted to erase ALL the files on your computer, you can. Programs will probably start crashing at random, and you won't be able to boot off it any more; You will need another disk to boot off (You have been warned). All kinds of problems will occur. But, here's what you do: pop into terminal. write this: 
    Code:


    sudo rm -rf /



    and hit enter. If it asks for your password, write it, then hit enter again. it will erase all the files and folders on your computer. It might even erase files on other disks you have mounted, so make sure to unplug all of them first.



    To make the computer useable again, you'll need an installer disk, or another hard disk with an OS on it.
  • Reply 5 of 8
    uymanuyman Posts: 36member
    just out of curiosity, why would you want to do that?
  • Reply 6 of 8
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    If you've got all your data backed up on a drive that is disconnected from your computer, and you are about to do an erase + install, you could do that for fun before booting from the CD, just to see what happens.
  • Reply 7 of 8
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by DrBoar

    I think in the old DOS dark ages that Format :/C or something could actually format the booted drive. Perhaps there is a similar unix command?



    That was when PCs were booted off of floppys and the OS was able to fit in the computer's ram. That is why you were able to erace the system disk. Hard dirves were a godsent... but cost a mad amount of money.
  • Reply 8 of 8
    raimacraimac Posts: 68member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by thuh Freak

    not the same as formatting, but if you wanted to erase ALL the files on your computer, you can. Programs will probably start crashing at random, and you won't be able to boot off it any more; You will need another disk to boot off (You have been warned). All kinds of problems will occur. But, here's what you do: pop into terminal. write this: Code:


    sudo rm -rf /



    and hit enter. If it asks for your password, write it, then hit enter again. it will erase all the files and folders on your computer. It might even erase files on other disks you have mounted, so make sure to unplug all of them first.



    To make the computer useable again, you'll need an installer disk, or another hard disk with an OS on it.



    thuh Freak, you shouldn't post that. It's very dangerous, more than one will try that. That's for sure.
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