HELP! Reinstalling OS X with License Problem

[RDJML]

Hello, everyone

I'm a new Mac user and a new member of MacRumor forum. I DO REALLY NEED A HELP from you the more experienced users to solve my problem. I'm trying to explain it as compact as I could. So here it is:

BACKGROUND:
I'm resigning from my current work office. Hence I don't want to leave any traces or private data (such as login items, iPhone backups, pics, songs, etc) remains in the company's iMac. So I think the best way to get rid all of it is to perform complete disk reformat and to reinstall the OS X afterward.

WHAT I'VE DONE:
- Backup all my private data
- Performed “secure empty trash” after I backup all those private files.
- Cleaned cache using CleanMyMac 2 (I know.. I know.. but I don't have many options right now)
- Deauthorize my computer from iTunes
- Uninstall all third-party apps

CHALLENGE:
- My administrator is a prick. He's a pervert and too lazy to help me solve the problem. He notoriously known as a person who'd like to dig in on personal data of someone else who works on the company. When I was telling the administrator about my plan to reformat the iMac, he quickly warned me to not perform the action. He told me that the company will GET TROUBLED FOR THE LICENSE.
- I've removed securely some of my personal files yesterday. But since I'm new to this method, I worry how about my other personal data that I've deleted long time ago without this method.

QUESTION:
Is there any way to get rid COMPLETELY of my personal data and make them impossible to be recovered without being tangled with the license issue?
Is there any way to reinstall Mac OS X safely enough regarding my background here?

In order to get better understanding about my iMac, I attach some of my systems screenshots.

Looking forward for your help, guys.
Thank you so much.

 

[rigormortis]

Once you deactivate iTunes

Maybe there's some software licenses you need to transfer, I don't know what applications you use

All you have to do is erase the hard disk

Boot the Mac
You either boot the Mac by inserting the cd that came with it and holding down the c key or you can hold command r on a Mac with a recovery partition, or you can hold down option command r for Internet recovey

Once you do that you run disk utility. From there you can click on erase. You do a secure erase and choose the 7 pass method. People will write back criticizing the 7 pass method saying it is overkill, but don't listen to them. If you don't want to wait, then at least do 3 passes

Once you do this , you can reinstall on x without worrying about personal data

The only exception is SSD or fusion drives. On a Solid state drive, you enable FileVault 2.0 in security preferences in system performances. Once FileVault is Finished encrypting the entire , you do a 1 pass erase of the disk, solid state can't be securely erased without fear of data retrieval, so the only thing that they have to protect you is FileVault encryption

 

[RDJML]

Hi, mate
Thanks for your response

Once you deactivate iTunes

Maybe there's some software licenses you need to transfer, I don't know what applications you use

If there's any application license, I would assume it's Microsoft Office. But I
worry about the Mac OS X license itself. Because I know nothing what to do about it.

Boot the Mac
You either boot the Mac by inserting the cd that came with it and holding down the c key or you can hold command r on a Mac with a recovery partition, or you can hold down option command r for Internet recovey

To be honest, I don't know what it's going to do with my iMac. Does it mean I will get a copy of Mac OS X Installer? Because I have nothing in my hand now. Means I don't have either the CD (my administrator kept it in his office) nor a single copy of Mac OS X Installer.

So according to your solution, which one is the best way that I can do about the recovery process above?

The only exception is SSD or fusion drives. On a Solid state drive, you enable FileVault 2.0 in security preferences in system performances. Once FileVault is Finished encrypting the entire , you do a 1 pass erase of the disk, solid state can't be securely erased without fear of data retrieval, so the only thing that they have to protect you is FileVault encryption

This one also make me a bit confused. What I know, SSD is a type of a hard disk that mounted within a new Mac model (yes, I'm totally noobie with a techy terms). So do you mean you suggesting me to enable FileVault 2.0 method? Because I'm not sure my iMac have an SSD, since I don't find the “SSD” term stated in the Disk Utility that I've attached within my post above.

Thank you.

 

[rigormortis]

1. If you do not hace any CDs , you can try the recovery method
Turn on the computer and press and hold command and r and it should boot up the recovery partition, and allow you to erase the hard drive and reinstall os x,

If that does not work then you hold down option command r during boot, and it should download the installer off the Internet.

2. There is no os x license to worry about.

3. Your hard disk is a mechanical one, so just go ahead and wipe it 7 times

To find out if it's SSD, you just Google the model number in iTunes, I went to google and I typed ST3500418AS and it told me it was a 7200 rpm mechanical hard drive.

 

[Bruno09]

To OP : you a have a Standard (non admin) account, don't you ?

Therefore you can't do anything other than deleting you personal files, period.

(fortunately !)

 

[RDJML]

1. If you do not hace any CDs , you can try the recovery method
Turn on the computer and press and hold command and r and it should boot up the recovery partition, and allow you to erase the hard drive and reinstall os x,

If that does not work then you hold down option command r during boot, and it should download the installer off the Internet.

2. There is no os x license to worry about.

3. Your hard disk is a mechanical one, so just go ahead and wipe it 7 times

To find out if it's SSD, you just Google the model number in iTunes, I went to google and I typed ST3500418AS and it told me it was a 7200 rpm mechanical hard drive.

Okay then.

But I need to discuss one more thing.
I read a thread at Apple Support site of “What to do before selling or giving away your Mac” section.
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065

In the 6th point, it says:
“6. After you reformat your hard drive and reinstall OS X, the computer restarts to a Welcome screen and asks you to choose a country or region. If you want to leave the Mac in an out-of-box state, don't continue with the setup of your system. Instead, press Command-Q to shut down the Mac. When the new owner turns on the Mac, the Setup Assistant will guide them through the setup process.”

I assume I'll get that condition after I reinstall the OS X. Since the company has their very own method to setup and to make the computer work within their own network, should I leave my iMac in an out-of-box state? Or I can perform a standard setup and then leave it to my administrator to work on the network setup? (This is my first time reinstalling a Mac)

 

[rigormortis]

To OP : you a have a Standard (non admin) account, don't you ?

Therefore you can't do anything other than deleting you personal files, period.

i was under the impression that this is a single use computer for his exlusive use only. and it was not shared. that is why i was telling him to wipe the hard disk.
his original post hinted at him wanting to wipe the hard disk and reinstall os x, which does not require an admin account

----------

Okay then.

But I need to discuss one more thing.
I read a thread at Apple Support site of “What to do before selling or giving away your Mac” section.
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065

In the 6th point, it says:
“6. After you reformat your hard drive and reinstall OS X, the computer restarts to a Welcome screen and asks you to choose a country or region. If you want to leave the Mac in an out-of-box state, don't continue with the setup of your system. Instead, press Command-Q to shut down the Mac. When the new owner turns on the Mac, the Setup Assistant will guide them through the setup process.”

I assume I'll get that condition after I reinstall the OS X. Since the company has their very own method to setup and to make the computer work within their own network, should I leave my iMac in an out-of-box state? Or I can perform a standard setup and then leave it to my administrator to work on the network setup? (This is my first time reinstalling a Mac)

yeah. thats perfectly fine. wipe the hard disk 7 times and then do that out of box state, that way your work won't get all pissed off at you for totally erasing the hard disk. that would be like a disaster, they might get all mad and hire an IT guy to install the operating system, because they do not know what to do.. just do what apple says and leave it in the out of box state and then your work will just re-purpose it for someone else

the out of box state is installing the os and then shutting down. when it boots up it will say welcome to macintosh and ask the person to complete the set up process, like entering a wifi network , and a user name and password, etc. that is much better then erasing a hard disk, and giving your employer back a mac that has a flashing ? mark wanting to know where the OS is

 

[RDJML]

To OP : you a have a Standard (non admin) account, don't you ?

Therefore you can't do anything other than deleting you personal files, period.

(fortunately !)

i was under the impression that this is a single use computer for his exlusive use only. and it was not shared. that is why i was telling him to wipe the hard disk.
his original post hinted at him wanting to wipe the hard disk and reinstall os x, which does not require an admin account

Fortunately, I'm able to sneak into the Admin account if it's necessary. I've got the user ID and password for it. That's the way so I could install my favourite apps in the past.

By the time Bruno09 questioning about the account, that triggered me asking rigormatis whether the account would make any deal along the reinstalling process. But rigormatis responded before I make any more question
Thanks, mate.

----------

But I need to discuss one more thing.
I read a thread at Apple Support site of “What to do before selling or giving away your Mac” section.
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065

In the 6th point, it says:
“6. After you reformat your hard drive and reinstall OS X, the computer restarts to a Welcome screen and asks you to choose a country or region. If you want to leave the Mac in an out-of-box state, don't continue with the setup of your system. Instead, press Command-Q to shut down the Mac. When the new owner turns on the Mac, the Setup Assistant will guide them through the setup process.”

I assume I'll get that condition after I reinstall the OS X. Since the company has their very own method to setup and to make the computer work within their own network, should I leave my iMac in an out-of-box state? Or I can perform a standard setup and then leave it to my administrator to work on the network setup? (This is my first time reinstalling a Mac)

yeah. thats perfectly fine. wipe the hard disk 7 times and then do that out of box state, that way your work won't get all pissed off at you for totally erasing the hard disk. that would be like a disaster, they might get all mad and hire an IT guy to install the operating system, because they do not know what to do.. just do what apple says and leave it in the out of box state and then your work will just re-purpose it for someone else

the out of box state is installing the os and then shutting down. when it boots up it will say welcome to macintosh and ask the person to complete the set up process, like entering a wifi network , and a user name and password, etc. that is much better then erasing a hard disk, and giving your employer back a mac that has a flashing ? mark wanting to know where the OS is

Great!!! I'll try it out tomorrow morning. Soon I'll post the result after. Thank you very very much!

 

[RDJML]

After I discussed it with the IT guy, unfortunately he still didn't allow me all the things that rigormatis had suggested me to do.

He told me that it would be troublesome for him if I kept insist to reinstall the iMac. He only allowed me to delete the account, so he could pass on the iMac to the next person without the hassle of install-activate-update kind of thing afterward. He also threatened me that he would do whatever it takes to recover my personal data to prove me wrong.

So what I've done is only deleted the account. My standard account. Hopefully my data won't be accessible nor make any trouble in the future.

Thank you, rigormatis and Bruno09 for the help. Really appreciate that.

 

[jeremysteele]

He also threatened me that he would do whatever it takes to recover my personal data to prove me wrong.

So what I've done is only deleted the account. My standard account. Hopefully my data won't be accessible nor make any trouble in the future.

Err... if the office admin is threatening you like that it sounds like you should get a higher-up involved.

A simple account deletion will leave your data behind... any ol' data recovery tool could pull nearly everything back up.

For the future- if you delete files via Finder's "secure delete" method it'll do a multi-wipe pass over any of the files in the trash - rendering them unrecoverable. Oh - and keep personal files off your work machines!

 

[alex0002]

Did this machine have any sort of backups running?
Perhaps running Time Machine to a local disk or some sort of network backup?

I hate to be the one to say this, but there is a good chance that all those private files are in a backup somewhere.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

He told me that it would be troublesome for him if I kept insist to reinstall the iMac. He only allowed me to delete the account, so he could pass on the iMac to the next person without the hassle of install-activate-update kind of thing afterward. He also threatened me that he would do whatever it takes to recover my personal data to prove me wrong.

OSX does not have any "install-activate-update kind of thing" as you put it. He is full of crap.

And he will be able to find your deleted files, unless you do a complete zero-overwrite of the harddrive. Or fill it with random files and delete them again (Which should be much faster).

 

[Duff-Man]

Duf-Man says...while your IT person/sys-admin may be a bit (ok, looks like a lot) of an idiot there is still something to remember here - it is *their* equipment and not yours to wipe or do whatever you like with. Perhaps because you are leaving the company you don't care but if you may want some kind of reference in the future you ought to not burn bridges by compromising company IT policies.

Some things people rarely seem to learn - computers owned by businesses are not your own and should not be treated as such. Don't keep your personal files on them, don't keep your music on them, don't think you can do whatever you like with it unless their policies state otherwise. The hardware and all that is on them is *theirs* once you put your stuff up there. Sure, maybe you can get around the admin PW and erase the drive but what about network backups? You'll surely not get at those.

If the IT person is really out of line then by all means report it to the people in charge and have them see to it that you concerns (outside of theirs) are dealt with - I know that almost any firm is concerned with that aspect of their data (esp after wikileaks type stuff) so IT people are not immune to scrutiny. If you were out of line with the IT policies than it's your bed tun you have to lie in....oh yeah!