Formatting iMac (Mid 2007)

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I'm sure this has been asked thousands of times but i'm looking to format my iMac hard drive so i want to clear a few things up. Is it absolutely crucial that i backup my hard drive before i format it? Because i don't have an external hard drive to backup to. If i don't backup, will *everything* be gone? Will it delete any essential system files and render my iMac completely broken and useless?
 
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If you format the drive everything will be gone. All the apps, data, and operating system. Gone. It will be empty.

Now what are you trying to do and why? Do you have a copy of the original disks that came with a 2007 iMac? I believe it was OS X 10.4 which is Tiger.

If you want to wipe it and you do not have the original disks, it is possible to download Yosemite and make a bootable USB drive to do an install of Yosemite.

Please understand - without a backup you will loose everything if you format the system hard drive.

Lisa
 
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If you format the drive everything will be gone. All the apps, data, and operating system. Gone. It will be empty.

Now what are you trying to do and why? Do you have a copy of the original disks that came with a 2007 iMac? I believe it was OS X 10.4 which is Tiger.

If you want to wipe it and you do not have the original disks, it is possible to download Yosemite and make a bootable USB drive to do an install of Yosemite.

Please understand - without a backup you will loose everything if you format the system hard drive.

Lisa

I just want all the junk and stuff gone, i want the computer to be the way it was when i bought it. I do have a Snow Leopard cd which i ordered from Apple, will that work? I just don't have any external hard driver to backup to. So my question really is can i erase the hard drive and just install Snow Leopard or Yosemite again or is the any system files or something i absolutely need to back up?
 
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If you do not want anything currently on the drive then you can install Snow Leopard and then upgrade to Yosemite. You don't say how much memory you have but I will suggest at least 4GB and 8GB is even better if you go with Yosemite. As for backing up first, I am always for backing up - better safe than sorry - but if your system is healthy - read, no hard drive issues - installing SL should go fine.

Here is a link that discusses upgrading to Yosemite:

Apple - OS X Yosemite - How to Upgrade

Easiest way to find out if it will work is insert the Snow Leopard disk and go from there.

Lisa
 
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As Lisa has said: FORMATTING YOUR BOOT VOLUME DRIVE WILL DELETE EVERYTHING!!!!

If you're going to go that route and re-install Snow Leopard as completely virgin, due to the obvious age of that Mac I'd seriously zero-out or do a one pass security erase option when formatting the hard drive.

That will really erase everything but also map out any and all bad drive sectors that may have developed. It will just take a bit longer to do that extra optional step using Disk Utility on the Snow Leopard 10.6.x install disk under Utilities (menu heading).
 

IWT


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@snapzzz3

Having a Backup (BU) is not an option or a luxury, but a necessity. Why? Because all HDs fail, some on first start-up, some after 5 years of sturdy use. External Hard Drives (EHDs) are incredibly cheap in comparison to a computer (and especially in comparison to the fees of a professional data recovery service).

If nothing on your Mac is worth saving, then one doesn't need a computer at all. After all, one of the central planks upon which computers are founded is storage — and particularly storage of precious, confidential or otherwise vital files.

So before you consider formatting or using your Snow Leopard Discs, buy an EHD, preferably with a storage capacity 1.5 to 2 times that of your Mac's HD. Use Time Machine and this will backup your entire system, files, settings, the lot. At the very least, BU all your photos, music, precious files to the EHD.

No one knows what will happen when you try Snow Leopard. Could be great, could be catastrophe. What we do know is that formatting deletes everything. BU please.

Ian
 
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No pictures, no emails, no documents, no anything that you might want to save? Then a format will wipe it sterile and you can reinstall from the disc as pm-r suggested, using a one-pass to check the drive. And when it boots, it will be like a brand new machine, with NOTHING on it. It'll be like it came from the store.

But get a backup drive anyway, they are cheap these days and it's simply insane to go without one at all.
 

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