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Deleting hard disk entirely, from Unix

Ι have no osx in this mbp! Gone!
Only unix, by pressing command-s during startup.
 
rm -rf /Volumes/WHATEVER-YOUR-HDD-NAME-IS

^ if you have multiple drives/partitions and you only want to erase one.

rm -rf * will erase everything.

you should download OS X to a flash drive or something and reinstall it for the next user, very few people have a damn clue how to reinstall an OS, let alone how to reinstall OS X.
 
chrfr said:
What does "does not work" mean? Are you getting an error?
Click to expand...

Of course I get an error, here it is:

rm: illegal option -- *
usage: rm [-f | -i] [dPRrvW] file
unlink file
 
You are right. But even after this correction, it does not work. The message:
read only file system
 
Can you please give me the whole command in complete format?
 
I had problem even with a 'space' in command, so I would like to see the command in full format.
 
cool11 said:
I had problem even with a 'space' in command, so I would like to see the command in full format.
Click to expand...

This computer won't boot into internet recovery? (Command-option-R at startup) If it does, just erase the disk from there.

You only need these commands to delete everything on the disk:

Code: 
/sbin/mount -uw /
rm -rf /*

Those are two separate, exact commands to be run from single-user mode.
 
I gave the 2 commands.
Here are the results:

rm: /dev/fd/0: Operation not supported
rm: /dev/fd/1: Operation not supported
rm: /dev/fd/2: Operation not supported
rm: /dev/fd/3: Not a directory
rm: /dev/fd/4: Bad file descriptor
rm: /dev/fd: Operation not supported
rm: /dev: Resource busy

Now when I give 'ls' command, I cannot see any of my files or directories!
Does this mean that they finally erased?
 
cool11 said:
I gave the 2 commands.
Here are the results:

rm: /dev/fd/0: Operation not supported
rm: /dev/fd/1: Operation not supported
rm: /dev/fd/2: Operation not supported
rm: /dev/fd/3: Not a directory
rm: /dev/fd/4: Bad file descriptor
rm: /dev/fd: Operation not supported
rm: /dev: Resource busy

Now when I give 'ls' command, I cannot see any of my files or directories!
Does this mean that they finally erased?
Click to expand...

If you did this from single user mode, yes, but no.

With this being done recursively, this gets to the /dev filesystem first, which contains the mount points for where your partitions are mounted. That simply tried to remove the descriptor to mount points, and not the data itself.

Your data is still there. You literally need to delete the partition and wipe the drive (as in, fill it with random data, or zero out the data).

Again, in this case, it would be better to use something like DBAN to wipe the entire drive. Once that is done, your files are totally gone, and your disk is wiped.

I do agree though; if you are going to give this to someone else, the very least you can do is supply them with a USB stick containing the OS installer. an 8GB stick is less than $5 now, and the OS is free.

BL.
 
If somebody manage to take control or the system etc, will my files be in first view? An 'ls' command, or a file manager, will it show them?
Aren't the data trashed?

If the discussion now is about an easy recovery of my data by any potential future owner, then I will not bother.
I had not 'fbi' records in my mac, just some personal files that I did not want to be there, to be seen it without any effort even from inexperienced user.

So, are my files deleted?
 
Please, somebody to assure me for the above?
Without a confirmation from you that my files are really gone, I cannot go on and sell it as a faulty machine.
 
[[ Without a confirmation from you that my files are really gone, I cannot go on and sell it as a faulty machine. ]]

Prediction:
You aren't going to get anyone who can "confirm" that your files are gone, because they are not there to see what you have done.

You keep going over and over and over trying to obtain a result you cannot otherwise verify.

There are ways to securely erase the drive. One way involves taking the drive OUT of the case, putting it into a drive caddy (USB3/SATA docking station), connecting it to another Mac, and then using Disk Utility to "zero it out". Then, either put the drive back into the case "as is" (empty), or install a fresh copy of the OS onto it, and put it back that way.

I sense your fears are not going to be assuaged until you do something like this.

Perhaps it's best to put the MacBook into the closet, never to be seen by anyone else again....
 
Fishrrman said:
[[ Without a confirmation from you that my files are really gone, I cannot go on and sell it as a faulty machine. ]]

Prediction:
You aren't going to get anyone who can "confirm" that your files are gone, because they are not there to see what you have done.

You keep going over and over and over trying to obtain a result you cannot otherwise verify.

There are ways to securely erase the drive. One way involves taking the drive OUT of the case, putting it into a drive caddy (USB3/SATA docking station), connecting it to another Mac, and then using Disk Utility to "zero it out". Then, either put the drive back into the case "as is" (empty), or install a fresh copy of the OS onto it, and put it back that way.

I sense your fears are not going to be assuaged until you do something like this.

Perhaps it's best to put the MacBook into the closet, never to be seen by anyone else again....
Click to expand...
Another possibility is to take the drive out of the machine, then sell the machine without the drive. Someone buying a faulty machine, such as for parts, isn't going to care that much that the drive is missing.
 
Useful everything you told above.

I can tell that giving 'ls' command now, does not displays me any of my files or folders, so beyond the thoughts of any attempt of possible restoration, I hope that I can tell that my files are gone.
 
cool11 said:
I can tell that giving 'ls' command now, does not displays me any of my files or folders, ...
Click to expand...

The 'ls' command doesn't work because the earlier command you gave removed everything. That's exactly what rm -rf /* is expected to do: remove everything. "Everything" includes all the commands.
 
So, if I would like to see for the existence of any files or directories, how this could be done? Unix gone too, or it exists in mbp?
 
cool11 said:
So, if I would like to see for the existence of any files or directories, how this could be done?
Click to expand...
You'll have to take the drive out and do something with it so it can be used as an external drive. Then you connect it to a working Mac, and see what's on the drive.

This was already described in post #45:
There are ways to securely erase the drive. One way involves taking the drive OUT of the case, putting it into a drive caddy (USB3/SATA docking station), connecting it to another Mac, and then using Disk Utility to "zero it out". Then, either put the drive back into the case "as is" (empty), or install a fresh copy of the OS onto it, and put it back that way.
​
In place of "zero it out", you can perform any command or run any app that resides on the Mac it's connected to.

Unix gone too, or it exists in mbp?
Click to expand...
If you're asking whether the disk is still bootable into single-user mode, the best way to discover that is to try booting into single-user mode. If nothing happens, then you have an answer. If you need to know everything that remains on the drive, then the way to do that is given above.
 
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