Apple experts: MacBook question
 

I have two old MacBooks I want to dispose of/ give away. They are in good condition and have updated operating systems. Issues they have is with holding a charge; operate perfectly when plugged in…..

Disposal: Staples has a recycling program which gets the computers into the hands of the needy.

Question: how can I make sure all personal info is erased off hard drive…..


Thanks…..

There is a way to do a factory reset that will accomplish that. Built into the OS.I have done it a few times. Do a search.

You'll need to reinstall the OS afterwards, but if they are intel based you can run dban on them. If PPC based then download a PPC linux and delete all partitions, make a few random sized ones, format them, then delete again.

Then reinstall OS.

can't remember specifics, but yes you can do a complete scrub. Jump on the apple discussion group and do a search. As I recall you start from an external (DVD system disc or eq) and then use disk utility to erase.

better yet, have your son remove the hard drive altogether.

I went through this a few months ago when my hard drive began acting up and I got a new Mac: The Mac is my sole work computer.

Lots of discussions on how to do it: Mac 911: How to erase your Mac's hard drive the right way | Macworld

I ended up replacing the hard drive and the old unit works perfectly. I, uh, used the old HD for ballistics testing:cool:

Think about replacing the battery. Do a Time Machine b/u first. Replacing the HD was the first time I had opened a computer up and it was surprisingly easy. Folks here convinced me to give it a try and I am glad I did. The battery is also very accessible and is plug and go.

https://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Amacbook%20replac ement%20battery

If I can do it...I now have two mirrored Macs, one that I travel with and one that remains at home.

How old exactly?

Care to donate to my kids schools Minecraft club?

You can yank the drives, I have extras or will pony up for new ones as part of the contribution.

Or check with your local Middle / HS and see if they have a tech club that can use them.

This.

New drives are cheap enough and the old ones are about the right size to present a good challenge at about 250-300 yards.

Boot off a system disk (or current systems the internet) and reformat the hard drive using the disk utility option. Use secure format option and it will write zeros all over the drive eliminating all traces of your data. Then you can do a system install and give it away clean and ready to make their own.

I may be interested in them, need to see if I can make the switch before I invest in one.