[iRudy]

I'm about to sell my Powerbook G4 with OS X Tiger. What should I do to make sure all of my username/passwords (OS profile passwords, etc) are reset and ready to go when the new owner boots it up for the first time? I'm not an extremely advanced user regarding macs, so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
sam

[CharlesS]

The best thing to do is to reformat the drive. Boot from the install disc, and when you get into the installer, choose "Disk Utility" from the Utilities menu. Click your hard disk (the actual disk itself, on the left, not the volume which is indented a bit and has the icon that appears on the desktop), and click the Erase tab. It's a good idea to click the Security Options button and check the "Zero All Data" button so that all your data gets completely erased and the new owner won't be able to recover it and look at any confidential information you may have on the drive. Once you're ready, give it a name (like Macintosh HD), make sure the format is set to "Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)", and nuke that sucker.

Once the hard disk is erased, if you're a nice guy you can install OS X on it, so they won't have to. If you do this, the best thing to do is to shut down after installing instead of restarting, so that when they boot it for the first time they'll get the Setup Assistant, just as if it were a brand-new machine.

Oh, also, don't forget to give them the install discs along with the machine. It really sucks to buy a used Mac, then realize you don't have the install discs as soon as the hard drive gets messed up and you need to reformat/reinstall.

[production_coordinator]

The best thing to do is to replace the HD. It leaves no question as to what is on the drive.

I would only pass along a computer with a hard drive if I knew the person... and reformatted a few times.

You really never know who will end up with your computer.

[CharlesS]

Okay, I should have said "The best thing to do that doesn't involve additional costs" then.

If you're really paranoid, you can do the 7-way rewrite thing. Frankly, I think that if you zero the drive, whoever gets your drive is not going to be reading that data unless they're the FBI or something.

[Tomchu]

Zero-writing is enough. Advanced forensic equipment is needed to recover anything that's been zero'ed out.

[msuper69]

I would do a secure erase and then use the system restore disks to put the PowerBook back to the state it was when you bought it.