Boot from superdrive using external display

Joined
Apr 24, 2010
Messages
140
Reaction score
0
Points
16
I need to wipe my macbook hard drive but cannot seem to get my machine to boot from superdrive or even usb when connected to my external display...

Is there anyway around this, would another macbook be of any use to connect or would this just be the equivalent of an external display....
 
OP
M
Joined
Apr 24, 2010
Messages
140
Reaction score
0
Points
16
This is turning into a bit of an emergency, the Mac is all but sold,and,have,a couple of days to reformat drive.

Please can someone suggest a solution?
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,208
Reaction score
1,411
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
I need to wipe my macbook hard drive but cannot seem to get my machine to boot from superdrive or even usb when connected to my external display...

- What are you using when you attempt to boot from the Superdrive? Are you holding down the "c" key while doing this?
- What OS version is currently installed?
- What does an external display have to do with this process?

- Nick
 
OP
M
Joined
Apr 24, 2010
Messages
140
Reaction score
0
Points
16
I have mountain lion installed so no problem updating to mavericks if it would help. I have tried superdrive option and also usb install. When it reboot it just goes grey, I have I feeling it is at the disk setup screen but screen remains grey. I think I also read online from someone who had a faulty display and was finding difficulty to boot into disk utlity to wipe drive but got no help either.

Must be some way I can force it to come up on external display. I also own a MacBook pro I could connect it to that but I suppose that would not be any different than any other external display
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,208
Reaction score
1,411
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
I would really like to help...but you're not answering my questions (at least so that I understand). And there really seems to be a lot of "mystery" surrounding this computer.

Remember...we only know what you write in your posts. If there is additional info that we need to know (that you know about, but haven't written in the posts)...please include that info.

You need to answer my questions:

- Are you using a bootable OS install DVD in the superdrive?
- Are you pressing the "c" key to get the computer to boot from the DVD?
- Are you pressing the "Option" key to choose what to boot from?
- Are you using a bootable OS install USB drive in your USB port?
- Since either of these things (bootable DVD or bootable USB) need to be made by the user...are you 100% sure they were made properly?
- Why are you messing around with an external display? You shouldn't need this.
- Since this computer has Mountain Lion installed...have you tried booting into the recovery partition (command + r)?

* Nick
 
OP
M
Joined
Apr 24, 2010
Messages
140
Reaction score
0
Points
16
I have both a bootable copy of mountain lion and same for usb boot, they are both working as I have tried them on my MacBook pro.

My MacBook air on the other hand has a faulty display so I must use an external display. I have pressed command c and command option. I will try command r when I get home though

I have just about sold the faulty MacBook air so want to wipe the SSD.
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,208
Reaction score
1,411
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
To be honest I'm not really sure what's going on. In the first post you mentioned a "MacBook"...and in the last post mentioned a "MacBook Pro" and a "MacBook Air".

I'm not sure which computer is the one that we are trying to "fix"...which one is being sold...what's broken or working on any of them.

Good luck,

- Nick
 
OP
M
Joined
Apr 24, 2010
Messages
140
Reaction score
0
Points
16
The MacBook air is my old broken laptop. I have sold it on. It has a faulty display. I want to wipe the ssd but cannot .

I refer,to a MacBook pro as that is my new machine and have the option to use,the,pro as an external display if it would make a difference
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,208
Reaction score
1,411
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
The MacBook air is my old broken laptop. I have sold it on. It has a faulty display. I want to wipe the ssd but cannot .

Believe it or not...this would have been a PERFECT introductory sentance to start off this thread...allowing us to completely understand the situation...and perfectly explains why you need to use an external display!:)

- Nick
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,208
Reaction score
1,411
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
I need to wipe my macbook hard drive but cannot seem to get my machine to boot from superdrive or even usb when connected to my external display...

Now here is where things get confusing again. In your first post in this thread you wrote what I quoted above. In that statement:

- You said "MacBook"...when you seem to be working on a broken "MacBook Air". MacBook's and MacBook Air's are completely different Apple laptop models.
- You said "hard drive"...when you are actually trying to wipe an "SSD" on a MacBook Air. These devices are different.
- You mentioned a "Superdrive". Since MacBook Air's do not have an internal Superdrive...can we assume you are using an external Superdrive?
- The broken display detail wasn't explained until we were 8 posts into the thread. So there was no clear reason (initially) why an external display was being used.

Do you see how confusing this thread has been?? It's like someone is trying to tell me that 1+1+1=7!;)

- Nick
 
OP
M
Joined
Apr 24, 2010
Messages
140
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Yea I do see that and I apologise for my grammar which is not usually so poor but in the middle of work typing on your phone I just was rushing a bit lol..

But as I say I want my hard drive cleared for obvious reasons, is there anything that can be done...?
 

bobtomay

,
Retired Staff
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
26,561
Reaction score
677
Points
113
Location
Texas, where else?
Your Mac's Specs
15" MBP '06 2.33 C2D 4GB 10.7; 13" MBA '14 1.8 i7 8GB 10.11; 21" iMac '13 2.9 i5 8GB 10.11; 6S
I...

My MacBook air on the other hand has a faulty display so I must use an external display. I have pressed command c and command option. ...

You do not press command with either of those.

Only press the 'c' key to boot to the DVD drive

or

press only the 'option' key to bring up a list of bootable devices.

Don't know if holding command affects anything since I haven't tried it - like preventing it from booting or if the boot process would merely ignore that key press.
--------------------------------

'command R' is correct for booting to the recovery partition where you can then go to Disk Utility and partition/erase/format the drive
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,208
Reaction score
1,411
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
I have pressed command c and command option. I will try command r when I get home though...

Thanks to bobtomay for pointing this out.:)

@OP: As I CLEARLY posted in post #5...you are supposed to (at reboot/startup) press either "c" (to boot from the superdrive) or "option" to choose from multiple bootable devices. If you've been pressing "command" + a second key...this would certainly not have the desired effect.

The "Devil is in the Details". I hate to say this...but you REALLY need to pay attention to the details. Because not doing things correctly...WILL cause lots of frustration!;)

- Nick
 
OP
M
Joined
Apr 24, 2010
Messages
140
Reaction score
0
Points
16
I have tried pressing only "c" on start, nothing coming up on external display, external superdrive is nosier so is doing something...

I have tried command + "r". Nothing on external display..

I have started air as normal, went into system preferences, disabled password needed for login just to make sure that isn't complicating things, i also went to startup disk and selected the superdrive and it rebooted, superdrive nosier but still nothing on external display....
 

bobtomay

,
Retired Staff
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
26,561
Reaction score
677
Points
113
Location
Texas, where else?
Your Mac's Specs
15" MBP '06 2.33 C2D 4GB 10.7; 13" MBA '14 1.8 i7 8GB 10.11; 21" iMac '13 2.9 i5 8GB 10.11; 6S
Try the command r boot with the external unplugged - wait 2 minutes - then pug the monitor into the MBA.
 
OP
M
Joined
Apr 24, 2010
Messages
140
Reaction score
0
Points
16
It finally works but only when I updated to mavericks...lol

Now Im in disk utility, I can erase drive but why is security options greyed out, i want to do a 5 pass but is greyed out...
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,208
Reaction score
1,411
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
You must have booted into the main HD partition. You cannot do a secure erase on the main partition while booted into it.

You need to boot from the recovery partition...command + r (no plus sign).

- Nick
 
OP
M
Joined
Apr 24, 2010
Messages
140
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Thats exactly what I did, command r, I never tried pressing c or option
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,208
Reaction score
1,411
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
This is turning into a bit of an emergency, the Mac is all but sold,and,have,a couple of days to reformat drive.

Back on November 27th (about 7 days ago) you mentioned that this computer was sold...and you had a couple days to sort things out. What's up with that?

To be very honest...doing what you want to do is normally a very very straight-forward task. Rarely has someone run into this much trouble doing a secure erase on a computer HD prior to selling.

- Nick
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,208
Reaction score
1,411
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top