A way to erase a Mac that appears to lack erasure options

I’m trying to securely erase my terrible, sad iMac before donating or recycling it. It’s my antique workhorse—going for walks 10.6.eight. Disk Software’s Erase Protection options are grayed out. I haven’t any OS X disk, and there’s no Recuperation HD. It’s admirable to erase your device before you sell—mainly with at-ease erasure—to avoid leaking personal information to someone who buys it or obtains the disk force. While the odds are likely very low, a person could be capable of exact facts (or be inquisitive about it), and you can attempt to reduce the odds to what’s successfully zero.

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Susan has several alternatives of How to continue, but there’s a piece of navigation along with the manner. She’s going for walks 10.6. eight (Snow Leopard), which didn’t encompass Restoration HD. Security options in her version of Disk Application are grayed because you may not erase a disk from its startup extent. (That option is usually unavailable for SSDs. However, an older iMac doesn’t have an SSD.) Here are the very best methods to erase that drive securely by using a diploma of problem:

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Use Target Disk Mode. With two Macs with Thunderbolt or FireWire ports, connect them with the correct cable and comply with Apple’s commands (both maintain down the T key after restarting the one to erase or use Startup Disk on that computer earlier than resuming it). The Mac to erase mounts as a force, and Disk Software may be used with it. Install OSX on external pressure or borrow one with OS X mounted. Booting off that force will also allow erasing through Disk Utility.

Upgrade to a more recent version of OS X and use Healing HD. Snow Leopard with the Mac App Keep established must let you download at no cost a later model of OS X. All variations after Snow Leopard encompasses and will Set up Healing HD, from which you could then boot and run iMac models released starting in 2010 can use Net Recuperation, however first need to be upgraded at the least to Lion. Some require a firmware replacement installed, so that’s not the only path to pursue.

An associated question got here from Becky Steinke, who was looking to erase a 2008 MacBook. She used the Restoration HD startup (retaining down Command-R after restarting) and had no luck. Each 2008 and later MacBook Pro and MacBook can Installation Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, which must be capable of Deploy the Healing partition. If possible, Improve it to Lion, restart, and use Healing HD to erase, or use one of the other alternatives above.

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