i-mac G3

colecole
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I just bought a brand new i-book, and am looking to sell my old i-mac G3. Before I do so, I would like to erase all of the data in my computer that may contain my credit card or social security info. How do I erase/clear the hard drive? Does anyone know? Please respond if you do... I would greatly appreciate it. Regards, Cole

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 2
    kingofsomewherehotkingofsomewherehot Posts: 4,180member
    Booting from CD, then re-formatting the hard-drive (and re-installing the system) will keep MOST people from ever getting any old data off the drive.



    If you are more paranoid though, you have to actually write OVER that old data ... to do that, you will need a separate program. To wipe a hard drive, it will actually write ones and zeros to the entire drive (the bigger the drive, the longer it will take).



    http://versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/23181

    http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/12833



    There's a couple examples (this isn't a recomendation) ... there are lots of others...

    Just reading about those programs provides a little education about what you wish to accomplish.
  • Reply 2 of 2
    stoostoo Posts: 1,490member
    The Mac OS X install CD allows you to zero all data and 8 way random write. From the install screen, look for "Disk Utility" in the menus: these options are accessed by the "options" buttons.



    If you don't have a Mac OS X CD that the iMac will boot from then there's probably a similar program on the CD that came with the iMac.
Sign In or Register to comment.