This won't erase the hard-drive, but the computer wouldn't have access to any of that info then.
(I replaced my 6gig withan 80 gig a while back in my iMac G3 266)
now ... a brand-new 120GB hard drive can be purchased for less than $100 USD, so the hard drive (used) isn't worth much. The computer is worth about $10 without a hard-drive (about $200-300 intact).
Do a search on here ... the are several threads with links to instructions on getting to your harddrive. It's not difficult, but it does require quite a bit of "disassembly".
Then there is no point in doing this. Especially not if it requires a lot of work! Even if it didn't.
I guess since I don't want the hard drive falling into someone elses hands, I either have to hang on to the computer or destroy it physically...but who can do that to an iMac... \
Ah, I understand. You just want to make sure no data is left on the computer before you sell it. All your data is stored on the hard drive - nothing is permanently stored elsewhere. You don't need to physically remove the hard drive to do this; you can simply completely erase everything on the disk.
However, if I read into your post correctly, you are buying a new Mac, and want to sell your old computer to recoup some of the cost, right? This would mean that you would want to copy all of your important data to the new computer first. Do you have your new computer yet? If you do, you can transfer the data really quite easily. Just turn your old iMac off, and plug it into the new computer through Firewire. Then, turn on the iMac, holding down the 't' key. This makes your iMac act as an external hard drive to your new computer, and will show up as such. Then, copy everything to your heart's delight.
Then to erase everything off of your old iMac, turn it off and disconnect it, and then put in an OS X install CD, and boot it up holding down the 'c' key this time. Once it comes up, go to the 'File' menu and select 'Disk Utility'. Now, you can choose to reformat your hard drive. Simply reformatting is not enough, though, as it just removes the database that tells the computer where things on the disk are. You must overwrite all the data. To do this, once disk utility opens, click on your hard drive. You'll want to be sure to click on the one that lists the size and manufacturer of the drive, instead of the name of the drive (eg "5.6 GB Maxtor <part number>"). Then click on the "Erase" tab, and click options. Select "Zero all data" and "8 Way random write format" - this will not only write over all of your data, but it will randomly write over it eight times, just to make sure that no electro-magnetic traces are left. Once this is done, you can be sure nobody will ever be able to read your data off your disk (and this includes you, so be sure you have off of it what you need).
Hope this helps. If you don't need to backup your data, you can simply skip that part, and the erasing part will still work fine.
If you have any questions about this process or anything that comes up along the way, just ask!
Actually, I'm not buying a new computer - just going to take my powerbook G4 on the road, can't take the iMac and won't be coming back to it...
I already printed off most of of my documents, which will be stored securely in paper form. But still it would be nice to copy stuff.
Can you copy programs - such as Appleworks? Or just files?
In any case, I ran into a little snag: the Firewire has two different endings, while both computers have the same entrance. I guess you need a two way firewire which I don't have.
No big deal. Erasing will be OK. As for that part - My OS is 9.0.2, and all I have is a CD called iMac software install - so would this work exactly the same as your explanation above?
Can you copy programs - such as Appleworks? Or just files?
Yeah, you can do that, too. Most should work, but there may be a few that won't due to serial number authentication or other required files that you didn't copy.
Quote:
Originally posted by prisoner
In any case, I ran into a little snag: the Firewire has two different endings, while both computers have the same entrance. I guess you need a two way firewire which I don't have.
Yeah, you need a firewire cable where both ends are 6-pin... they're pretty standard and probably cost about ten bucks.
Quote:
Originally posted by prisoner
No big deal. Erasing will be OK. As for that part - My OS is 9.0.2, and all I have is a CD called iMac software install - so would this work exactly the same as your explanation above?
Not quite, but it's the same idea. It's been a loooong time since I've used OS 9, but if I remember correctly, after you've booted up with the CD (using the same method as above - holding down the 'c' key), you'll want to double click on the CD, and inside there should be a folder called Utilities or the like. Inside that is the Disk Utility application. I don't know if the OS 9 version of Disk Utility supports random overwrites, but it should at least support zeroing the data. I can't guide you any farther than that, though, since I don't have any OS 9. If you still need help, maybe someone else can take it from here.
Comments
This won't erase the hard-drive, but the computer wouldn't have access to any of that info then.
(I replaced my 6gig withan 80 gig a while back in my iMac G3 266)
now ... a brand-new 120GB hard drive can be purchased for less than $100 USD, so the hard drive (used) isn't worth much. The computer is worth about $10 without a hard-drive (about $200-300 intact).
Do a search on here ... the are several threads with links to instructions on getting to your harddrive. It's not difficult, but it does require quite a bit of "disassembly".
Then there is no point in doing this. Especially not if it requires a lot of work! Even if it didn't.
I guess since I don't want the hard drive falling into someone elses hands, I either have to hang on to the computer or destroy it physically...but who can do that to an iMac...
Thanks for answering!
However, if I read into your post correctly, you are buying a new Mac, and want to sell your old computer to recoup some of the cost, right? This would mean that you would want to copy all of your important data to the new computer first. Do you have your new computer yet? If you do, you can transfer the data really quite easily. Just turn your old iMac off, and plug it into the new computer through Firewire. Then, turn on the iMac, holding down the 't' key. This makes your iMac act as an external hard drive to your new computer, and will show up as such. Then, copy everything to your heart's delight.
Then to erase everything off of your old iMac, turn it off and disconnect it, and then put in an OS X install CD, and boot it up holding down the 'c' key this time. Once it comes up, go to the 'File' menu and select 'Disk Utility'. Now, you can choose to reformat your hard drive. Simply reformatting is not enough, though, as it just removes the database that tells the computer where things on the disk are. You must overwrite all the data. To do this, once disk utility opens, click on your hard drive. You'll want to be sure to click on the one that lists the size and manufacturer of the drive, instead of the name of the drive (eg "5.6 GB Maxtor <part number>"). Then click on the "Erase" tab, and click options. Select "Zero all data" and "8 Way random write format" - this will not only write over all of your data, but it will randomly write over it eight times, just to make sure that no electro-magnetic traces are left. Once this is done, you can be sure nobody will ever be able to read your data off your disk (and this includes you, so be sure you have off of it what you need).
Hope this helps. If you don't need to backup your data, you can simply skip that part, and the erasing part will still work fine.
If you have any questions about this process or anything that comes up along the way, just ask!
Actually, I'm not buying a new computer - just going to take my powerbook G4 on the road, can't take the iMac and won't be coming back to it...
I already printed off most of of my documents, which will be stored securely in paper form. But still it would be nice to copy stuff.
Can you copy programs - such as Appleworks? Or just files?
In any case, I ran into a little snag: the Firewire has two different endings, while both computers have the same entrance. I guess you need a two way firewire which I don't have.
No big deal. Erasing will be OK. As for that part - My OS is 9.0.2, and all I have is a CD called iMac software install - so would this work exactly the same as your explanation above?
Thanks so much!!!
Originally posted by prisoner
...
Can you copy programs - such as Appleworks? Or just files?
Yeah, you can do that, too. Most should work, but there may be a few that won't due to serial number authentication or other required files that you didn't copy.
Originally posted by prisoner
In any case, I ran into a little snag: the Firewire has two different endings, while both computers have the same entrance. I guess you need a two way firewire which I don't have.
Yeah, you need a firewire cable where both ends are 6-pin... they're pretty standard and probably cost about ten bucks.
Originally posted by prisoner
No big deal. Erasing will be OK. As for that part - My OS is 9.0.2, and all I have is a CD called iMac software install - so would this work exactly the same as your explanation above?
Not quite, but it's the same idea. It's been a loooong time since I've used OS 9, but if I remember correctly, after you've booted up with the CD (using the same method as above - holding down the 'c' key), you'll want to double click on the CD, and inside there should be a folder called Utilities or the like. Inside that is the Disk Utility application. I don't know if the OS 9 version of Disk Utility supports random overwrites, but it should at least support zeroing the data. I can't guide you any farther than that, though, since I don't have any OS 9. If you still need help, maybe someone else can take it from here.