How Wipe Mac OS X and Re-Install for Sale

[hondaf17]

My girlfriend has an old MacBook. We're going to sell it and get a Laptop. It has a 2.4 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo and 2GB Ram. It has Mac OS X version 10.5.8.

We've backed up all her photos.

I want to:

1) Completely wipe the OS/hard drive. For Windows machines I use Dban. Will this work for OS X?
2) Re-install OS X, to get it ready for re-sale. She doesn't have any original disks/paperwork. Will I be able to accomplish this/download from internet?

I have never worked much in OS X so I appreciate any suggestions.

 

[nephilim2k]

Load up BartPe....have 2nd USB with DBAN...nuke the drive. Job done for the wipe. A new copy of OSX Costs around $30...add it with the licence onto sale cost

 

[JackMDS]

OSX 10.5 is too old.

OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard is still good and used on many Macs.

You can get it for as little as $23 - http://www.ebay.com/bhp/mac-os-x-snow-leopard

You need the full Retail version, do not get the upgrade version.

OSX are simple Os' (as for Not really sophisticated), and its installation is simple too.




😎

 

[Rakehellion]

Download a copy of OS X.

You can format the disk from the Apple installer. No need to use third party utilities.

 

[hondaf17]

Thanks guys.

Forgot to add a couple things:
1) The battery is dead. Only works when plugged into an outlet. Doesn't hold a charge.
2) The CD/DVD drive is dead. I'm thinking this will make it difficult to install a new OS. I might just nuke the drive with Dban from flash drive and sell as-is...

 

[JackMDS]

It is actually better to do it plugged in to an outlet.

You can borrow or get an External USB DVD Drive and with an Install DVD it will work too.

If you have friend with a functioal Mac you can get a DVD and make an installl Flash drive from it.

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/ap...how-to-create-a-bootable-usb-to-install-os-x/



😎

 

[redyouch]

Ideally, you pull the drive, wipe in another system with DBAN/Aomei/etc, and then reinstall fresh. That's the best approach.

 

[hondaf17]

Ok. I have dban loaded up on a bootable USB all ready to go. Problem is, I can't figure out how to get the damn MacBook to boot from USB. It's a MacBook 4.1

And, the CD drive is broken, so I can't use my bootable dban cds.

Anyone know how to get the MacBook to boot from USB so I can wipe it?

TYIA,

 

[CA19100]

Ok. I have dban loaded up on a bootable USB all ready to go. Problem is, I can't figure out how to get the damn MacBook to boot from USB. It's a MacBook 4.1

Reboot the machine and immediately press and hold down the Option key until it comes up asking you which drive to start up from. Any bootable volumes will show up for you to click the arrow under. (Give it a second; slower volumes may not show up for a few seconds.)

 

[hondaf17]

Reboot the machine and immediately press and hold down the Option key until it comes up asking you which drive to start up from. Any bootable volumes will show up for you to click the arrow under. (Give it a second; slower volumes may not show up for a few seconds.)

Thank you. Turns out this is tougher than usual because:

1) CD/DVD drive doesn't work
2) Supposedly Apple is picky about booting from a USB if the USB doesn't contain an OS (Apple, Linux, etc). So, it wouldn't read my bootable USB with Dban.

I just took it to the Apple store and they did a 7 pass security wipe and reinstalled 10.6.8 for me.

Thanks!