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How do you format with mac?
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Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Jan 2003
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I am selling my Powermac G4 dual 1.0ghz and was curious what the BEST WAY is to prepare the computer for re-sale. I would like to format the hard drive, and leave the applications on the the new user. Is it just simple as deleting the user accounts? or is there more steps to ensure a thorough cleaning.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Los Angeles
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If you want to be thorough, use the Erase and Install command in the OS X installer, and then, after it restarts, boot into single user mode and delete the the AppleSetupDone file, as described here. After you do that in single user mode, instead of typing exit as described type shutdown now instead to shut the system down. By doing that, the person you're selling the system to has the complete out of the box experience.
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"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
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Forum Regular
Join Date: May 2005
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From a security standpoint you could: 1) remove the old hard drive and install a brand new one, thus ensuring that YOUR data, although deleted, cannot be recovered in ANY way.; 2) use Disk Utility to format the drive, but tell it to write Zeros (or a pattern); 3) use some other utility to perform item #2.
But that's only if you're concerned about someone using a data recovery utility to scan your "erased" hard disk in order to glean some really useful information like passwords, bank account numbers, and other private information.
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Did Schroedinger's cat think outside the box?
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Seattle, WA
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Step One: Don Tinfoil Hat
Step Two: Perform 35 Pass Erase through Tiger's disk utility
Step Three: Wait a week for Erase to finish
Step Four: Sell computer
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Impulse Response
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: columbus, oh
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Originally Posted by Big Mac
If you want to be thorough, use the Erase and Install command in the OS X installer, and then, after it restarts, boot into single user mode and delete the the AppleSetupDone file, as described here. After you do that in single user mode, instead of typing exit as described type shutdown now instead to shut the system down. By doing that, the person you're selling the system to has the complete out of the box experience.
Actually with 10.3, you can restart into the setup assistant, use -Q to quit the assistant which shuts the computer down, all withouth the command line.
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"Another classic science-fiction show cancelled before its time" ~ Bender
15.2" PowerBook 1.25GHz, 80GB HD, 768MB RAM, SuperDrive
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