erasing data on emac

Hey there!

I'm giving away my old emac with 10.3.9, i GHz Power PCGH, 640RAM SDRAM - and I'd like to get rid of the data. I've tried Disk Utility but I don't have the security options. Worse, I don't have the original startup disks. Is there any way that I can get wipe out my data before I give this away?

Thanks for any help anyone can offer me

If you don't have the original install discs, or a compatible retail install disc, there are other options. You could attach it to another Mac via target firewire mode and erase it, but then the new user will also have problems without the install disks.

You could simply create another admin user, the log into it and delete your user. It's not so secure, as there's always the possibility the new user could use the likes of Data Rescue to recover erased data.

I can't remember if 10.3.9 had the secure erase option. If it did, simply use this to delete everything confidential before creating the new user and deleting yours.

After you delete the user you can always create a disc image in disk utility that takes up most of the free space, then delete that. Its not totally secure but will at least overwrite the free space on the mac with one big file