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how do I return my Mac to factory settings?

Foxer

Foxer

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 22, 2003
1,274
30
Washington, DC
OK. So I'm selling my PowerMac and i want to know how I can clean everything up so that it runs as it did when I bought it - from an OS point of view. I'd like to remove all my settings and personal info, and also have it set up so that the buyer will be able to enter his info.

Obviously, I know I can simply drag all my files to the trash and delete them, but I was wondering if there is a more complete and clean procedure?
 
P

primalman

macrumors 6502a
Jul 23, 2002
619
3
at the end of the hall
Use the System Restore disks that came with your Mac. After you use it, and don't start up the machine yourself, the new owner will start it up and be greeted with the multi-lingual animation. It's like a brand new Mac.
 
Foxer

Foxer

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 22, 2003
1,274
30
Washington, DC
Originally posted by primalman
Use the System Restore disks that came with your Mac. After you use it, and don't start up the machine yourself, the new owner will start it up and be greeted with the multi-lingual animation. It's like a brand new Mac.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Will that remove my user settings, docs, itunes files, apps, etc as well, or should I do that before?
 
LimeLite

LimeLite

macrumors 6502a
Mar 20, 2003
652
0
Los Angeles, Ca
yeah, using the restore cd's will make it exactly like it was the very first time you turned it on. (i.e. you'll be asked to enter your info with the welcome screen, if you remember from back when you first turned it on)
 
macktheknife

macktheknife

macrumors 6502a
Jan 24, 2002
639
0
Besides reformatting, is there a program you can run that will completely erase every bit of information on the hard drive? People can still recover the bits stored on the magnetic disc (the 1's and 0's), so I want to make sure that no one can restore the data on my hard drive after I sell my Mac.

Thanks.
 
P

primalman

macrumors 6502a
Jul 23, 2002
619
3
at the end of the hall
Originally posted by Foxer
Thanks! Will that remove my user settings, docs, itunes files, apps, etc as well, or should I do that before?
Click to expand...

It will remove all files from the directories you made. But do what macktheknife said in the previous post first, that will ensure that all your data is wiped before you reinstall.
 
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