Hi
Want to sell and old Mac powerbook G4, how do I completely remove all of my personal information from it short of taking a hammer to the hard drive?
Cheers
dban
You don't.
[url= http://www.mactip.net/how-to-securely-wipe-your-mac-hard-drive-before-selling-it/ ]Wipe Mac HDD[/url]
Multiple passes of erasing data will take ages. Probably days if you have a large HDD. You then need to reinstall the operating system (which is easy, just stick the DVD in a follow the instructions).
If you have very important data then you are better off destroying the HDD and install a new one. Just about any form of data erasing can be undone by an IT expert.
Technically true, but DBAN (or presumably a Mac equivalent) will wipe to US MOD standards. That should be "good enough" for all practical purposes.
Another +1 for dban, easy to use and apparently effective
Or if you're really concerned, take out the old hard drive, stick it in an enclosure and use it as a back-up for you new lap-top or whatever and just fit a new hard drive. Not expensive these days.
All you need to do is write random numbers to every bit on the drive and that means that your data is wiped for all but forensic examination (removing the magnetic discs from the drive). Most file recovery programs trawl the disc looking for 'orphaned' files or recover portions of the file table - both of which will be effectively blown away by a single complete over-write.
Because you have no idea where the HDD is going to end up after it's out of your possession, and because you probably don't actually remember what's on it (bank and credit card details, dates of birth, password details, personal photos, security photos of jewellery etc and your address, etc, etc.), the only sure way is to destroy it and replace it with a fresh HDD.
Note that although you can write over the HDD to cover data to various US Mil specs (and even higher), it IS still possible to recover data from the HDD, hence the US Military (along with anyone else who takes their data protection seriously) recommends HDD destruction.
Some people find this alarmist/paranoid/overkill; those people probably won't have been burgled, had their accounts hacked, or suffered identity theft.
Destroy HDD or at least replace and keep it somewhere, I have a couple of my old ones in the loft- they will stay there or at least until I move