Can my imac erase my PC

So I've made the switch and I'm loving it. I still have my old PC which I no longer have any use for. I've transferred all necessary data, but now I have a really large paperweight.

I did some exploring on my mac and found in disk utilities the erase function. That got me thinking, if I connect my PC to my mac via USB or firewire can it be used to erase my PC?

I want to donate my old PC to a local school who could use it more that I can but I don't want them finding any of my old files.

Anyone have any experience with this?

You might be able to do this through networking the drives (what you said). But i think a simpler way, if you are PC Savvy is take the pc hard drive and put it into the mac and erase it FAT32.

Other people may have a better idea, but that would be my suggestions. Hope that helps.

-Kamron

Generic PCs do not have the option of booting into FireWire Target Disk Mode, like a Mac can, so it is not possible that way. I'm not sure that it is possible to format the drive over a network either.

Why don't you just boot from the Windows disk that came with the PC and format the drive that way? Then install a fresh copy of Windows so whoever receives the system will at least have an OS installed.

The other option is to remove the drive from the old computer, put it into an external drive enclosure, and plug it into your Mac. You could then format the drive easily through Disk Utility, but then will be left with no OS on the drive. If you are buying an enclosure, be sure to get the correct interface, since your old PC could be either IDE or SATA.

Yet another option is to download a Linux Live CD and use a tool like GParted to format the drive.

ADKhikerVW said:

Why don't you just boot from the Windows disk that came with the PC and format the drive that way?

The other option is to remove the drive from the old computer

Click to expand...

I was wondering the same thing... those are the two, most logical, easiest and practical options that I see.

Thanks. Didn't think of that. I'll try that instead

Frankly, I wouldn't just do a format. Formatting the drive doesn't actually do any kind of security erasing - it's quite easy with basic software to recover data on a drive like that.

I'd say do one of the following:

1) Take the drive out, get a USB chassis for an IDE (or sata if that's what it is) drive, hook it to the mac and use the mac disk utility to do a security format (which if i recall correctly offers different layers of security wiping - this may only be available if you boot from the OSX install CD, I honestly don't know as I'm not in fron tof my mac atm so I can't look at the disk utility) here are basic instructions for using the disk utility - just be sure to wipe the right drive

How To Wipe Your Drive - Macintosh

2) Get a tool that will boot from CD or USB and do a security wipe of the drive to clear out the data. I know whenever I get rid of a personal drive, I alwys do the equivilant of a long security wipe (or I don't get rid of the drive and if I can't really use it, I drill holes through it )

Never EVER let out a drive that you only "reformatted" if you stored any kind of personal data on it. Although you may never have a problem - it's that one person that might get it that might attempt a data recovery that could cause you to have nightmares .

Use a Secure erase program to wipe a hard drive

If you want to erase a hard drive on a computer that you wish to pass on to someone else, I recommend you use a program that will SECURELY erase your data. Merely re-formatting the hard drive doesn’t do the job. The good news is that there are products the will make your hard drive “clean”.

One I’ve used is “Darik’s Boot and Nuke”. It is free, and will completely wipe your hard drive. You can read about on Cnet’s download web site

Darik's Boot and Nuke - Free software downloads and reviews - CNET Download.com

Boot and Nuke’s website is
Darik's Boot And Nuke | Hard Drive Disk Wipe

After you secure erase the hard drive, you can put the Windows CD back in and re-install Windows for the PC's new owner, if you choose.