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Mac desktops forum: Secure erase possible on old Mac running 9?

by: tjlean May 26, 2011 10:18 PM PDT

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Secure erase possible on old Mac running 9?

by tjlean - 5/26/11 10:18 PM

I have an old Mac which is the Power Computing Power Tower Pro that runs OS 9. I want to get rid of it and was wondering if there's a way to do a secure erase on the Hard drives using OS 9 just like on the OS 10?


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Secure Erase was not built into System 9

by mrmacfixit Moderator - 5/27/11 4:58 AM

In Reply to: Secure erase possible on old Mac running 9? by tjlean

The only option was a third party solution which may be really difficult to find these days.

To securely erase the entire drive you would have to be booted from another system folder on another disk.

The same applies if you just format (initialize) the drive, which makes the files invisible but does not delete them.

P


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One possibility

by Jimmy Greystone - 5/27/11 6:25 AM

In Reply to: Secure erase possible on old Mac running 9? by tjlean

One possibility would be to find a PPC Linux distribution which could presumably do a secure wipe of the drive, then you just reinstall Mac OS from your originals. Or, if you're not planning on trying to sell the thing or pass the problem of disposing of it onto someone else, you could just take the drive out and physically destroy it. It would take someone with a whole lot of resources and skill to be able to piece together data from a couple of shattered drive platters.


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