2009 iMac for grandkids

fireman0174 · Nov 26, 2017

I have a 2009 24" iMac that I want to "wipe clean" and then give it to my three grandchildren to use. (Ages 7, 5 and 3).

The machine has been gathering dust for the last six months or so, but it started right up a few minutes ago.

It's current OS is El Capitan 10.11.6. It's age makes in unable to upgrade any higher.

What's the best way to "reformat" the HD so it's "clean"? Or as close to factory fresh as possible.

I do have the old Mac OS X Snow Leopard installation disk if that helps.

Thanks

Raz0rEdge · Nov 26, 2017

Power down the machine and then power it back up while holding CMD+r which will get you into the Recovery Console. Now, launch Disk Utility there and erase the hard drive and then begin a new installation of El Capitan. Once the installation is complete, you can set it up as you see fit or hand it off for someone else to go through the new computer setup and create the accounts and so on.

MightyGem · Nov 26, 2017

If you are concerned about deleting all your stuff, you could do it this way. Go into Sys Prefs>Users and Groups. Set up an account for your grandchildren. Make sure it's an Admin Account.

Log out of your account and log in to the new account. Now delete your old account. It's now ready for your grandchildren to use. You could set up a non Admin account for them now if you wish.

IWT · Nov 26, 2017

Hi fireman

Two very helpful posts above offering different approaches.

One wiping everything and ending up with what would appear as a "brand new" Mac allowing you a fresh start; the other preserving all that's currently on the Mac, the grandchildren then having access to all of that.

Either way, as the children are well under 13 years of age, none of them would be allowed an Apple ID in their name, so it would require an adult (say yourself) to create an Apple ID for them and be responsible for that ID.

You might, on reflection, wish to activate parental controls to protect the children and, if you chose the second method (as per Mighty Gem), you would possibly want to restrict access to the content currently on the Mac.

I mention all this because it might influence the way you wish to prepare the iMac for the children.

Ian

fireman0174 · Nov 27, 2017

Raz0rEdge said:
Power down the machine and then power it back up while holding CMD+r which will get you into the Recovery Console. Now, launch Disk Utility there and erase the hard drive and then begin a new installation of El Capitan. Once the installation is complete, you can set it up as you see fit or hand it off for someone else to go through the new computer setup and create the accounts and so on.

Question: When I get to the Disk Utility for the erase part I have two selections.

First is a little HD icon that says ST31000342ASQ Media. (I assume this is the computer serial number?).

The other selection sits below and indented to the right with another little HD icon that say iMac.

Which one to select?

Thanks

fireman0174 · Nov 27, 2017

IWT said:
Hi fireman

Two very helpful posts above offering different approaches.

One wiping everything and ending up with what would appear as a "brand new" Mac allowing you a fresh start; the other preserving all that's currently on the Mac, the grandchildren then having access to all of that.

Either way, as the children are well under 13 years of age, none of them would be allowed an Apple ID in their name, so it would require an adult (say yourself) to create an Apple ID for them and be responsible for that ID.

You might, on reflection, wish to activate parental controls to protect the children and, if you chose the second method (as per Mighty Gem), you would possibly want to restrict access to the content currently on the Mac.

I mention all this because it might influence the way you wish to prepare the iMac for the children.

Ian

Ian,

I definitely want the hard drive wiped clean, the "brand new" look.

Thanks for the tip!!

Art

Raz0rEdge · Nov 27, 2017

fireman0174 said:
Question: When I get to the Disk Utility for the erase part I have two selections.

First is a little HD icon that says ST31000342ASQ Media. (I assume this is the computer serial number?).

The other selection sits below and indented to the right with another little HD icon that say iMac.

Which one to select?

Thanks

Yes, that is the model number of your HD and that's the one you'd choose. The indented piece just indicates what is on the HD. So once you choose the the HD, then click on Partition on the right create a single partition that will be formatted for you automatically. You can name the partition "Macintosh HD", which is what it's usually called by default.

Once the format is complete, exit Disk Utility choose Install from the options on top.

pm-r · Nov 27, 2017

Yes, that is the model number of your HD and that's the one you'd choose. The indented piece just indicates what is on the HD.

Will not choosing the root drive name to erase and partition the drive, also wipe out the "Recovery HD" volume???

I thought it was required to use and do the new OS reinstall.

EDIT:
Maybe this would help:
Mac 911: How to erase your Mac's hard drive the right way
https://www.macworld.com/article/29...erase-your-macs-hard-drive-the-right-way.html

And/Or:
How to reinstall macOS
https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT204904

- Patrick
======

fireman0174 · Dec 2, 2017

Ok, in spite of some trepidation on my part, I got through the reformatting and reloading and the computer is up and running.

Needless to say, the good assistance here was a big help. Thank you all.

So the computer shows my name as administrator. I would like to delete my account and have my son as the administrator so he can oversee the grandkids access.

I would assume the proper way to accomplish this is to first add my son as an administrator, then delete my own administrator account?

MacInWin · Dec 2, 2017

That would work. Just make sure you remember what password you gave your son's account!

pm-r · Dec 2, 2017

I would assume the proper way to accomplish this is to first add my son as an administrator, then delete my own administrator account?

Either that, or create a new "Tester" admin user and you could even skip using any password and use it to log onto to delete your username account. Your son could also use it to setup his new admin account.

- Patrick
======

2009 iMac for grandkids

fireman0174

Raz0rEdge

Well-known member

MightyGem

IWT

fireman0174

fireman0174

Raz0rEdge

Well-known member

pm-r

fireman0174

MacInWin

pm-r

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