Preparing my iMac for donation

I am donating my old iMac G3 to charity and I want to be sure all my sensitive data is deleted. What is the quickest and most thorough way to clear my hard drive?

Thanks!

reformat it from the install cd, you can access disk utility from the menu bar when the install screen comes up and have various options when reformatting for secure reformats

then do a clean install

Yes you should try to leave the hard drive in it, as I go and deal with lots of folks at thrift stores and if they can't fire it up it goes in the dumpster. Last week I got an Epson rx680 out of the dumpster,all it needs is ink.

Wow. All it needs is ink? Cool.

Ruyuk said:

Wow. All it needs is ink? Cool.

Click to expand...

I have already got my ink and installed it and the printer works great,its missing the CD print tray,have to hunt one up. Hey theres some awesome architecture in Sofia,welcome to the U.S. You will discover we throw lots of good stuff away here,right in the dumpster it goes.

Personally it depends on how sensitive your data is. Whenever I donate a computer I take out my hard drive and replace it with a cheap replacement from newegg.com or tigerdirect.com. Nor would I ever sell a computer with my hard drive in it.

With the low price of hard drives now, its worth it to protect your sensitive information and just replace it with a new one and destroy the disks on the old one.