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Power PC Macs

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radesousa

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 13, 2006
85
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Hi folks: I'm trying to remove a couple of hard drives in my brother's Power PC Mac but it's proved to be a real headache! The ultimate goal is to format the hard drives before discarding this dinosaur. Can anyone give me a hint on how to successfully remove the hard drives. I've gotten as far as to unplug the power cables, the data cables and several screws to remove the heat sink. But now I'm stuck! Help, please! Thanks! :(
 
radesousa said:
Hi folks: I'm trying to remove a couple of hard drives in my brother's Power PC Mac but it's proved to be a real headache! The ultimate goal is to format the hard drives before discarding this dinosaur. Can anyone give me a hint on how to successfully remove the hard drives. I've gotten as far as to unplug the power cables, the data cables and several screws to remove the heat sink. But now I'm stuck! Help, please! Thanks! :(
Click to expand...

I would suggest not throwing this Mac away; rather, try finding someone who likes to fiddle with computers. It would definitely be a shame just to toss it, whatever computer it is. (what PowerPC Mac is this?).
 
Is it perhaps a G5? I had problems getting the HDDs out of mine and ended up selling it with them inside, got a nice price for it at the same time. If its a higher speed model I would vastly advise you to so sell it, I got about 70€ for my 1.8 GHz G5 ( with 8GB of ram).
 
We really need the model to help out. Given the difficulty I assume it is a G5 of some sort, or maybe a laptop??

That said, you can start the machine in Target Disk mode and reformat the HDD from another Mac or PC and not remove the HDD unless there is a compelling reason to remove the HDD (like extra sensitive material). If you try and sell it you will get much more for the machine if it has the HDD installed still, even if it does not have an OS on it.

Here is a wikipedia article on Target Disk Mode: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Target_Disk_Mode
 
Formatting hard drives does not erase them. It rewrites the basic information used to track data but typically the data remains...it's just inaccessible to the normal OS access methods but not recovery tools.

To erase the disk use Disk Utilities erase option. You'll need to start from media other than the drive you wish to erase in order to do so.
 
reco2011 said:
Formatting hard drives does not erase them. It rewrites the basic information used to track data but typically the data remains...it's just inaccessible to the normal OS access methods but not recovery tools.

To erase the disk use Disk Utilities erase option. You'll need to start from media other than the drive you wish to erase in order to do so.
Click to expand...

Great point. You need to use the erase option, and even then the data really remains. Use the 7 pass erase option or at least the one pass zero option. Information on Apple Disk Utility erase options can be found here: http://support.apple.com/en-us/ht3680
 
tampasteve said:
Great point. You need to use the erase option, and even then the data really remains. Use the 7 pass erase option or at least the one pass zero option. Information on Apple Disk Utility erase options can be found here: http://support.apple.com/en-us/ht3680
Click to expand...

Seven pass is complete overkill for all but the most highly sensitive data. A single pass is sufficient to render the data irrecoverable to all but the most determined actor. Most of us do not have information worth expending anything close to the money and effort required to recover a disk erased with a single pass.
 
reco2011 said:
Seven pass is complete overkill for all but the most highly sensitive data. A single pass is sufficient to render the data irrecoverable to all but the most determined actor. Most of us do not have information worth expending anything close to the money and effort required to recover a disk erased with a single pass.
Click to expand...

Absolutely correct, I know my data is probably not worth the single pass:D.

However, the only cost to use the 7 pass is the time it takes (which can be considerable) since the option is there; so, why not? That said, if it is a large drive maybe the time it would take would not be worth it.
 
reco2011 said:
Formatting hard drives does not erase them. It rewrites the basic information used to track data but typically the data remains...it's just inaccessible to the normal OS access methods but not recovery tools.

To erase the disk use Disk Utilities erase option. You'll need to start from media other than the drive you wish to erase in order to do so.
Click to expand...

Hi folks:

Thanks for the advice to erase the disks rather than format them. I just want to remove the hard drives and use my Mac Pro tower to erase the hard drives and then either sell it or recycle it. It's a Power Mac G4 (MDD). Now I need to find a manual which can tell me how to remove the hard drives! :)
 
radesousa said:
Hi folks:

Thanks for the advice to erase the disks rather than format them. I just want to remove the hard drives and use my Mac Pro tower to erase the hard drives and then either sell it or recycle it. It's a Power Mac G4 (MDD). Now I need to find a manual which can tell me how to remove the hard drives! :)
Click to expand...

The hard drives are removed by disconnecting the power and data cables and unscrewing them from the drive brackets. There is no reason to remove or touch the heatsink as you discussed earlier. That being said, unless you have an adapter, the Mac Pro only has a SATA bus and does not have the appropriate cable to connect those IDE drives.
 
The 2006-2008 Mac Pro has a PATA bus for the optical drive. A G4's hard drive can be placed in the optical drive bay and accessed on those model years.
 
cocacolakid said:
You don't have to remove the hard drives. Just burn a cd with Gparted or Darik's book and nuke and boot from that. Gparted can format the hard drive (which erases everything) or Darik's will delete everything and leave it unformated.

If you still want to remove the hard drive, here is step by step instructions with photos.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Power+Mac+G4+MDD+Hard+Drives+Replacement/1618

http://gparted.org/

http://www.dban.org/
Click to expand...

I do not believe that Darik's Boot and Nuke comes in a PowerPC compatible bootable CD.
 
cocacolakid said:
You don't have to remove the hard drives. Just burn a cd with Gparted or Darik's boot and nuke and boot from that. Gparted can format the hard drive (which erases everything) or Darik's will delete everything and leave it unformated.

If you still want to remove the hard drive, here is step by step instructions with photos.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Power+Mac+G4+MDD+Hard+Drives+Replacement/1618

http://gparted.org/

http://www.dban.org/
Click to expand...

Thanks, cocacolakid! I followed the directions on step 9 and was able to remove cage #2. I have a power supply and now I will hunt for an IDE to SATA adapter.
 
radesousa said:
Hi folks:

Thanks for the advice to erase the disks rather than format them. I just want to remove the hard drives and use my Mac Pro tower to erase the hard drives and then either sell it or recycle it. It's a Power Mac G4 (MDD). Now I need to find a manual which can tell me how to remove the hard drives! :)
Click to expand...

I'd sell it or give it a way... it would be a shame to recycle. If you cannot get much for it as a whole, sell the parts. You can get a good amount of money from just the power supply, assuming it works fine.
 
PowerMac G4 MDD said:
I'd sell it or give it a way... it would be a shame to recycle. If you cannot get much for it as a whole, sell the parts. You can get a good amount of money from just the power supply, assuming it works fine.
Click to expand...

Yep. The last I looked a couple of years ago the power supply has some decent value. Pull the airport card and ram and other parts, throw them on ebay and put the case on Craigslist. Some hackintosh modder would love that case.
 
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