[jabbathehut]

Hey everyone, I am planning on selling my old Apple Powerbook G4 with Mac OS X. I want to completely delete all the files on the computer so no one can get to my private information, such as credit card numbers and passwords. It's scary to sell off my Powerbook because I know computer savvy people might be able to get to old data. Anyone know of how I can wipe out the hard drive and memory to remain safe?Thanks

[KellieCM]

I believe that if you have the install CD/DVD for your OS, you can use Disk Utility to erase the hard drive with up to 35 passes. You can also re-install a clean version of the OS.Here is some instructions on Disk Utility from http://www.macworld....ngmac/index.phpWhether youre selling your old computer or cleaning out your virtual desk before moving to another job, sometimes you want to erase everything thats on your hard drive. Disk Utility gives you two options.The quick and easy way is to select a volume, choose the Erase tab, and click on the Erase button. The disk will now appear empty, even though your data is actually still there. Whats gone is the catalog directory, or the pointers, to the files. Your Mac now considers the space free and will write over the data as new information is added.Its not easy to access files erased in this way, but a knowledgeable hacker (or a disk-recovery service) could ferret them out. So if you want to make sure that all existing data is truly gone, click on Security Options instead. In this sheet, Disk Utility gives you a number of erasure options, including Zero Out Data, 7-Pass Erase, and 35-Pass Erase. When you select multiple passes, the drive is erased multiple times to remove all data traces. But be aware that more passes take more time. Unless you work for the CIA, the Zero Out Data option (which is one pass) should be sufficient (see screenshot).If youre concerned that something sensitive you already deleted might still be recoverable but you dont want to erase the entire drive, never fear. Disk Utility can help in this situation, too. Select the volume, choose the Erase tab, and click on the Erase Free Space button. In the sheet that appears, pick the desired number of erasure passes. Disk Utility targets only files that youve deleted, leaving your other files untouched. In the future, you can use the Secure Empty Trash command (Finder: Secure Empty Trash) to thoroughly delete files from the Trash.

[orthocross]

[quote name='jabbathehut']Hey everyone,> > I am planning on selling my old Apple Powerbook G4 with Mac OS X. I want to completely delete all the files on the computer so no one can get to my private information, such as credit card numbers and passwords. It's scary to sell off my Powerbook because I know computer savvy people might be able to get to old data. Anyone know of how I can wipe out the hard drive and memory to remain safe?> > > > ThanksAbout the ONLY way to ensure that data on a HD you are no longer using is unrecoverable is to take a 2lb ballpeen hammer in a very violent way to the recording media. Otherwise, simply writing zeroes ("zeroing out the drive") to the entire HD surface three or more times will effectively ensure that no one can recover your data in the future (not even the CIA will be able to recover it.) Kellie's advice is good advice in this case.So you will know the difference, "erasing the disk" simply writes random ASCII characters into the Disk Catalog (called the "MFT" on Windows-based PCs), and does not touch the data itself, which will still be there no matter how many times you "erase it", while "zeroing out" the drive will write ASCII character "zero" ("0") over the entire surface of the recording platters of the drive, so it would be more effective if you did that, rather than using the "erase disk" option.

[techie4fun]

How much do you plan on selling your MAC for? Can I have it?:lol: