Permanent Erase Files on Older Mac

Hey guys...
Just wanted to thank all members for having such awesome helpful posts. Question though - I work in a finance office and we are trying to get rid of all old macs. (Sell/Donate) We have a whole variety, some OS 9 and others OS X and later. I need to delete all docs off there in such a way that they cannot be rediscovered or reaccessed. I have tried linking the machines using an Ethernet and then shadowing in to the older machines with a powerbook g4 then using a permanent eraser software. I can access the files from the powerbook but the eraser wont delete them. Any ideas? The eraser software isnt able to run on older macs. I dont want to just smash the hard drives I would really like to be able to sell these/donate these to someone who could use them. We have G3, G4 and so on. Any ideas? Most appreciate it!
iram :flower:

boot from the os install disc 1 and do an erase and install, itll still have the os on it, but nothing else, just original os x and seytings.

Macman said:

boot from the os install disc 1 and do an erase and install, itll still have the os on it, but nothing else, just original os x and seytings.

Click to expand...

I will try that ! Thanks...hopefully I will be able to find the disks. Do you have any idea what I could use as a backup plan if the disks dont turn up?

Thanks....
:girl:

If these systems can run OS 9 and they have CDROM drives. You can create a bootable OS 9 system disk on CD, including disk first aid. Or you can try to locate an old copy of Norton Utilities that run on OS 9, which is bootable. Then wipe the disk clean using either method to boot up with.

can he get Panther from Apple store and do that too?

Yes. As long as the computer model is compatible with Panther. As MacMan said, you can boot from the installer and do an erase and install. When you do it have the installer add the disk drivers from OS 9 to be sure you can boot from 9.