Selling my MacMini...How do I get it ready for the new owner?

[punkmac]

I'm finally selling my Mini. I want to wipe the HD, and set it up like new for the buyer.

I can do this with the install disc right. How about passwords and master user accounts wil they be cleared also? How about AppleCare?

Alot of questions I know but just want to do it right before I wipe the drive.

Thanks

[iGary]

Just make sure you do an erase and install not archive and install and you should be OK.

I usually just quit at the intro screen when it asks you to setup after its done.

[Dont Hurt Me]

You will have the option of zeroing out all the data when your doing that and you should do that.

[rtharper]

You will have the option of zeroing out all the data when your doing that and you should do that.

I would DoD wipe it before doing any of this. This involves writing random data to the drive, usually successive times but even once is better than just zeroing out the data. Research has show zeroed out drives still have EASILY recoverable data on them. I believe one pass of random data satifies DoD overwrite procedures.

The following command works on HP-UX, not sure if it will work on OS X (it should). NOTE: THIS WILL DESTROY ALL OF THE DATA ON YOUR DISK DRIVE, USUALLY UNRECOVERABLE!

# dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/<diskdevicename> bs=1024k\

and be patient, it takes a while. Oh, and you have to be a superuser (admin, root, etc.) to do this.

[Aperture]

I usually just quit at the intro screen when it asks you to setup after its done.

That seems to work the best, I always shut down at that screen when selling a mac.

[®îçhå®?]

Ideally, you want a new hard drive in it so that they can definately not access your data. However, if you change out the HD, then the warreanty is void. Yeah as iGary said, just a simple wipe then reinstall OS X is sufficient and they probably wont go lookingf to gain access to your files.

[punkmac]

Will the new owner have to contact Apple about transfering Applecare. Does he need my reciept?

Everything is ready to go....

Thanks.

[steve_hill4]

That seems to work the best, I always shut down at that screen when selling a mac.
Ditto.

As for AppleCare, no harm in ringing/contacting Apple quickly before you sell. Usually, it gets transferred as the extended warranty is with the item, not the owner.