How can i secure delete everything and reinstall osx on my powerbook?

[student_trap]

I recently found out that my powerbook G4 that i had a bottle of coke spilled on it is insured under my uni insurance policy, and am about to send it in for repair/replacement.

My issue is that i have used my parents/girlfriends/my own credit cards on the machine for online shopping and would like to absolutely securely delete everything from the machine, and reinstall osx on it before giving it in for repair, in order to have peace of mind that my detials are not going to be used elseware.

I have a mbp and dont use the powerbook so it wont inconvenience me, and its hard disk is backed up to an external also, so there is no problems there.

I just need to know what i will need to do this and how it can be done?

Thanks in advance

 

[andysc]

I recently found out that my powerbook G4 that i had a bottle of coke spilled on it is insured under my uni insurance policy, and am about to send it in for repair/replacement.

My issue is that i have used my parents/girlfriends/my own credit cards on the machine for online shopping and would like to absolutely securely delete everything from the machine, and reinstall osx on it before giving it in for repair, in order to have peace of mind that my detials are not going to be used elseware.

I have a mbp and dont use the powerbook so it wont inconvenience me, and its hard disk is backed up to an external also, so there is no problems there.

I just need to know what i will need to do this and how it can be done?

Thanks in advance

Do a zero fill format. Here's a link to an explanation of it and how to do it:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107437

 

[student_trap]

thanks for the quick response and useful info.

one more thing though, is it easy to reinstall the os once the harddrive is completely bare?

 

[andysc]

thanks for the quick response and useful info.

one more thing though, is it easy to reinstall the os once the harddrive is completely bare?

No problem. Yes, after you format the os, it should give you an option to install os x. If not, just boot up with the install disc.