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How to prepare an iMac for sale...?

Thunderbird8

Thunderbird8

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 11, 2007
217
0
UK
Hi,

I'm thinking about getting a new iMac and selling my (May '05) G5, as I notice that on ebay my version is still selling for a healthy £300-380, which is not at all bad.

My question is this; is it best to reset the system so that everything 'private' is wiped off and it is basically in the same state it was when it was first delivered? I have everything it came with so it should not be a problem.

If so how do you do that?

Thanks.
 
I would, yes. Once you know you have everything off, put in the restore disks and boot to it. You're basically going to re-install the OS from those disks. But during the install process, just do an erase and install (you can even have it zero out the data). When the computer restarts into the fresh OS, quit out of the setup process and shut the computer down. When the buyer gets it, it will be in the same state it was when you got it.
 
I suppose I am correct in assuming that you can't sell 'used' software unless the license is transferred too?
 
Important for iTunes users!

Something many people seem to overlook. If you are selling your machine, and have purchased music from iTunes, make sure to select 'deauthorize computer' from the 'store' menu in iTunes.

This means that music you have purchased will not be able to be played on that machine anymore without your iTunes account details. However, more importantly, you only get 5 machine authorisations before you have to deauthorise them all to get your account active on a 6th machine.

If you don't deauthorise it before you sell it, it will be included in your total out of 5, even after you have restored the software to its original state.

You might not be planning to go through 5 Macs, but for people how upgrade regularly or use a notebook alongside the desktop, it can be an issue so better just to do it.

David
 
If you have expensive software with licenses that you've paid for, you don't want to let anyone else at them really.

On the other hand, leaving Photoshop etc. on there can really bump the price up on ebay...
 
davidjearly said:
Something many people seem to overlook. If you are selling your machine, and have purchased music from iTunes, make sure to select 'deauthorize computer' from the 'store' menu in iTunes.

This means that music you have purchased will not be able to be played on that machine anymore without your iTunes account details. However, more importantly, you only get 5 machine authorisations before you have to deauthorise them all to get your account active on a 6th machine.

David
Click to expand...

I was going to post this as I forgot to do this on my first Mac that I sold. I wish I knew about that before I sold it but at least I'm aware of it now :(
Good for everyone to keep in mind for down the road…
 
On the iTunes thing, you have the option to deauthorize all computers after you have maxed out the 5. I think you can only do this once a year or something like that. I had to do this since I have gone through several computers over the years.
 
davidjearly said:
Something many people seem to overlook. If you are selling your machine, and have purchased music from iTunes, make sure to select 'deauthorize computer' from the 'store' menu in iTunes.

This means that music you have purchased will not be able to be played on that machine anymore without your iTunes account details. However, more importantly, you only get 5 machine authorisations before you have to deauthorise them all to get your account active on a 6th machine.

If you don't deauthorise it before you sell it, it will be included in your total out of 5, even after you have restored the software to its original state.

You might not be planning to go through 5 Macs, but for people how upgrade regularly or use a notebook alongside the desktop, it can be an issue so better just to do it.

David
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting this. I too am about to sell my old iMac and had totally forgotton about deauthorizing in iTunes. Quite helpful.
 
Used G5's seem to pull in a good price.

I sold my 2.5 year old G5 Power Mac and was pleasantly surprised at what I got for it.

I would advise doing a complete system reinstall to clear off the remote possibility of any personal information.

ESPECIALLY if you ever slected " Remember Me On This Computer " when entering in Passwords for ANYTHING.

If you want to 'inadvertently' leave some software on there you can always reinstall it! :D

Actually on the Power Mac I removed the Hard Drive and reinstalled the one that came with it originally that I never used!
 
So whats is the msot secure way of wiping your hard drive? Just doing an erase and install of the OS?

Ive stored so many passwords and card details etc on my mac in the past, i really want to delete everything off my drive before selling up.
 
Thunderbird8 said:
Hi,

I'm thinking about getting a new iMac and selling my (May '05) G5, as I notice that on ebay my version is still selling for a healthy £300-380, which is not at all bad.

My question is this; is it best to reset the system so that everything 'private' is wiped off and it is basically in the same state it was when it was first delivered? I have everything it came with so it should not be a problem.

If so how do you do that?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

http://mikewest.org/archive/preparing-a-mac-for-resale

This did the trick for me when I sold my last iMac. I was just recommending it another thread on this same topic because it basically returns the machine to the exact state it is shipped from Apple in.
 
harcosparky said:
Used G5's seem to pull in a good price.


I would advise doing a complete system reinstall to clear off the remote possibility of any personal information.
Click to expand...

So is that possible without reverting to messing with the 'root' (whatever that is) and just doing it with the Install disks? Will this uninstall the user account too..?
 
7084 said:
So whats is the msot secure way of wiping your hard drive? Just doing an erase and install of the OS?

Ive stored so many passwords and card details etc on my mac in the past, i really want to delete everything off my drive before selling up.
Click to expand...

When I sold my old PowerMac, I did a 7-pass zero write of the hard drive. Disk Utility also has a 30-pass or something, but I think that's overkill. Unless you suspect the CIA of buying it and trying to find info on it. A 7-pass should be plenty. Takes a while, though, depending on the size of the hard drive.
 
Dimwhit said:
When I sold my old PowerMac, I did a 7-pass zero write of the hard drive. Disk Utility also has a 30-pass or something, but I think that's overkill. Unless you suspect the CIA of buying it and trying to find info on it. A 7-pass should be plenty. Takes a while, though, depending on the size of the hard drive.
Click to expand...

I did the 7 pass and it had taken some time but it made me feel better.

Also, for anyone that needs to know, once you do that part, as it will want to have you fill out everything like a new Mac would just shut it down at that point so no info gets added onto it (take out any media before you shut down though ;).)
 
Artful Dodger said:
I did the 7 pass and it had taken some time but it made me feel better.

Also, for anyone that needs to know, once you do that part, as it will want to have you fill out everything like a new Mac would just shut it down at that point so no info gets added onto it (take out any media before you shut down though ;).)
Click to expand...

Honestly, when I sold my PowerMac, I shipped it with blank drives. I included the original install disks, so the guy who bought it could install it. But I figured whoever bought it might also want to put a newer OS on it. So I shipped it blank and let the buyer handle the install. That's what I recommend.
 
bacaramac said:
On the iTunes thing, you have the option to deauthorize all computers after you have maxed out the 5. I think you can only do this once a year or something like that. I had to do this since I have gone through several computers over the years.
Click to expand...

Correct, although I'm not sure about the once a year limitation. The only annoyance with this is, you may have 3 Macs at any given time with authorised iTunes accounts on them and then you decide to buy a 4th Mac. Now you might find out you have authorised 5 already but you sold a couple a while ago. You would have to deauthorise all of them and then manually authorise the ones which you still own.

Very tedious, and annoying. Hence why I think it is better to deauthorise before you sell if you can remember to do so.

Ladybug said:
Thanks for posting this. I too am about to sell my old iMac and had totally forgotton about deauthorizing in iTunes. Quite helpful.
Click to expand...

No problem. Glad to help.:)
 
This will sounds like a mad question - forgive me in advance - but I have never actually bought anything from iTunes and I don't have an Apple account.

Would I still need to 'de-authorise' the machine?
 
I would switch in a new hard drive especially if you're selling over ebay. Even zeroing the drive 7+ times doesn't necessarily wipe all of your data.
 
takeabyteoutta said:
I would switch in a new hard drive especially if you're selling over ebay. Even zeroing the drive 7+ times doesn't necessarily wipe all of your data.
Click to expand...

I agree. It's not easy, but they would still be able to pull info off of there if they really tried.
 
takeabyteoutta said:
I would switch in a new hard drive especially if you're selling over ebay. Even zeroing the drive 7+ times doesn't necessarily wipe all of your data.
Click to expand...

Noobish said:
I agree. It's not easy, but they would still be able to pull info off of there if they really tried.
Click to expand...

Exactly what are you guys trying to hide? Perhaps an FBI forensics lab might be able to recover data from a hard disk you wiped with great time and expense but they obviously don't do such procedures randomly.

If all you're worrying about is protecting your personal data I think you'll be just fine wiping the hard disk pre sale.

What do you guys do with the hard disks you remove? You obviously can't throw them out. Do you have a hard disk closet filled with them or do you take sledgehammers to them. Even that is no guarantee the data couldn't be recovered you know.
 
SaSaSushi said:
What do you guys do with the hard disks you remove? You obviously can't throw them out. Do you have a hard disk closet filled with them or do you take sledgehammers to them. Even that is no guarantee the data couldn't be recovered you know.
Click to expand...

Drill holes in the drive, dip them in acid, then into a chipper, the pieces are then collected and flushed down the toilet at a public restroom at least 40 miles from where I live. And if I think I'm being tailed by anyone I call it off and dump them at a later point in time.
 
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