How do you wipe everything off a Mac except the OS

[9662danny]

Hi - what I would like to is to wipe everything off my mac (second hand) so that I can start again with everything clean and fresh.

I've done this sort of thing before with other Macs by simply reinstalling the the start up disk - but this is where the problem lies - the disk that came with the Mac is only for OS 10.4.10 (Tiger) and the Mac is currently running OS 10.5.6 (Leopard) and I don't really want to downgrade (the weird thing is the Mac came with Leopard from the factory so I don't know whey it wasn't supplied with the disk).

So is there any way I can delete everything else off the Mac (files, programs - AND MOST IMPORTANTLY change the "home file" name) with out loosing Leopard?

Thank you very much in advance!

 

[Hellhammer]

You could buy Snow Leo for 29$ and use that to do a clean install.

Just create a new account and delete the old one and its data.

 

[maflynn]

The real option you have is to reformat and reinstall. Other then manually deleting files, there's no apps to do what you're asking.

 

[9662danny]

If I create a new account and delete the old one will it allow me to change the name of the "home" file?

Thanks

 

[Hellhammer]

If I create a new account and delete the old one will it allow me to change the name of the "home" file?

Thanks

Not easily but yes. I would buy the Snow Leo though, and use it for clean install

 

[Darth.Titan]

You could also try calling Apple to get a correct set of replacement restore discs. I did that once and they sent them for free. Of course I was still under warranty, but I've heard that they don't charge more than $20-$30 even out of warranty.