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idiot47 · Sep 23, 2012, 05:17 AM

I am trying to erase the hard drive on an old emac so it can be recycled but am unable to get the erase button to highlight in disk utility. Can anyone recommend a solution bearing in mind I am not very IT savvy

BLAZE_MkIV · Sep 23, 2012, 05:22 AM

You can't be using the drive to be erased. Do you have the install cd? You can boot off that. For more detailed steps we'd need to know what os version it is.

idiot47 · Sep 23, 2012, 06:04 AM

It's OS X 10.3.9

idiot47 · Sep 23, 2012, 06:08 AM

I also have the software install discs 1 & 2 and a hardware test disc. Are these any good?

Waragainstsleep · Sep 23, 2012, 06:39 AM

If you have a 10.3.9 disc use that, if not try restore disc one. Put the disk in and reboot holding the C key on the keyboard. You should hear the CD drive whirring more than usual and boot will be slower. It should then give you a choice of languages followed by an installer. From the menus at the top of the screen choose Disk Utility, you should now be able to select and erase the hard disk.