Erase All Time Machine Backups

[modit]

I'm sending my Time Capsule back to

How can I erase the hard drive before sending it back? Is a 2TB erase going to take all night

Thanks!

 

[McGiord]

Drag to trash? Empty Thrash.
Use Disk Utility and erase the partition?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Guide on how to use Disk Utility from the restore / installation DVD.

Format Your Hard Drive Using Disk Utility
Partition Your Hard Drive With Disk Utility

Using Disk Utility - Formatting, Partitioning, Verifying, and Repairing Disks

DiskWiping – One Pass is Enough​

 

[Mitchelino]

You can reformat it? That's apparently the quickest way. Or else it will take all night, but it will eventually delete everything. It took me under a day to delete around 593GB. Probably 15 hours.

 

[modit]

The 2TB drive isn't showing up in disk utility...

 

[jdogg836]

Either enter time machine or initiate a time machine backup so that it mounts the drive. Once the drive is mounted it should show on your desktop. After that, it will show in Disk Utility.

 

[modit]

Either enter time machine or initiate a time machine backup so that it mounts the drive. Once the drive is mounted it should show on your desktop. After that, it will show in Disk Utility.

Thank you.

Lastly, should I do a single erase pass on "Time Machine Backups" or "imacsparsebundle"?

UPDATE: I went with erasing the "Time Machine Backups" partition with the 2 pass secure erase. Hopefully it works out.

Thanks again!

 

[modit]

So this morning, I checked disk utility and saaw that the erase would take 20 days >_>

I skipped it and tried to load time machine again but it wouldn't work.

Any ideas if it's OK to send back?

 

[modit]

Is one pass enough or is there a faster method to erase the time capsule?

*bump*