how to delete my personal info before I sell my imac

[artgoddess9]

does anyone know how to delete my personal info and files before I sell or donate my imac? I have both OSX and OS9. Thanks!

 

[McYukon]

The best thing to do would be to start from the OSX install disk, open Disk Utility, erase the HD and then reinstall OSX. That way you can be sure that all your data will be safely gone.

How to Erase a Macintosh Hard Drive

 

[artgoddess9]

thank you for that...what if my main OS is 9.2?

 

[chscag]

Note: Thread moved to appropriate forum. Has nothing to do with networking.

 

[McYukon]

If you want the machine to run OS9 afterwards, I think this is the way it should work.

1. Boot from the OS 9 disk, go to the Utilities folder and launch Drive Setup Utility.
2. Go to the Functions menu and select Initialization Options (initialization is the same as formatting).
3. Select Zero All Data and click OK.
4. Click Custom Setup, select Mac OS Extended as the format (aka HFS Plus) and click OK.
5. Click Initialize and be patient; the process takes some time.
6. Quit Drive Setup Utility and proceed with the installation to install OS9 again.
Erasing ancient iMac hard drive - MacFixIt Forums

If you want to install OSX though, you can just use the OSX install disk.

 

[artgoddess9]

thank you

thank you all for such quick and relevant information. I'll give the ideas a try!

 

[Collin Bl]

If it is an iMac with both OS 9 and OS X it probably has 10.0 or 10.1. Finding a set of CDs with Panther 10.3 and installing that would make it much more user friendly for new owner.