HD Erase Options question

[James Godfrey]

Hi all

Just wondering if it is worth doing a 7 pass HD erase if my iMac is still going to be used by me afterwards or any type of secure erase?

Also if after a standard erase (un secure erase) I then came to sell my iMac would a 7 pass erase still make everything irrecoverable on my HD?

Another quick question, when doing a HD erase to clean install the OS is it best to erase Macintosh HD or the one that us listed above it (some name with 500.11 on it) and does it make any difference which I erase?

Just a few security concerns over banking data etc...

Thanks

James

 

[Bear]

There's no need to do any sort of secure erase if you're using the Mac yourself.

And as for selling it... for a HD, a 1 pass erase is secure. If you're really paranoid, do 3 passes.

 

[James Godfrey]

The reason I ask is because I want to do a clean install of mountain lion when released.

Thanks

 

[Bear]

The reason I ask is because I want to do a clean install of mountain lion when released.

Thanks

All you need to do is a quick erase (after you have a backup of your data of course) to do a clean install of OS X.

 

[James Godfrey]

Hi

Thanks for that, so if I want to clean instal ML easily do I just upgrade to ML then erase my HD then reinstall ML?

Thanks again

James