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Reformatting / Wiping MacBook with NO Install DVD

S

svcghost

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 4, 2010
39
2
Hello guys,

Is there any way I can reformat / totally wipe my MacBook and start over? I want to sell the laptop and want to make sure it is at the state it was when I first bought it from Apple. I want all my information and data off of it.

The thing is though, I don't have the original install DVD. All I have is the install DVD for my new MacBook Pro I just bought. So I'm assuming I cannot use that DVD to reformat the MacBook (tried and it failed, I think).

Any suggestions?
Thank you!
 
svcghost said:
Indeed it does. Yes.
Click to expand...

Okay, if you want to sell the MacBook without an operating system, you could use Target Disk Mode. After it is in Target Disk Mode, connect it to your MacBook Pro, then boot the MacBook Pro off of its Mac OS X install disk. Then go into Utilities>Disk Utility, select your MacBook's hard drive and then the Erase tab. From there you can click on Security Options and select how secure you want the erase to be, finally, erase the hard drive.
 
svcghost said:
Hello guys,

Is there any way I can reformat / totally wipe my MacBook and start over? I want to sell the laptop and want to make sure it is at the state it was when I first bought it from Apple. I want all my information and data off of it.

The thing is though, I don't have the original install DVD. All I have is the install DVD for my new MacBook Pro I just bought. So I'm assuming I cannot use that DVD to reformat the MacBook (tried and it failed, I think).

Any suggestions?
Thank you!
Click to expand...

This won't return it to like new, but it's probably as close as you can get without an install disc. Create a new user account. Delete old user account (your current account). Use Disk Utility to Erase Free Space.
 
iBookG4user said:
Okay, if you want to sell the MacBook without an operating system, you could use Target Disk Mode. After it is in Target Disk Mode, connect it to your MacBook Pro, then boot the MacBook Pro off of its Mac OS X install disk. Then go into Utilities>Disk Utility, select your MacBook's hard drive and then the Erase tab. From there you can click on Security Options and select how secure you want the erase to be, finally, erase the hard drive.
Click to expand...

Wow. Thank you for the awesome reply. I can certainly try this. For the time being I do not have my MacBook Pro (at the girlfriend's house for the day).

Any other way to do this besides using another MacBook? It is a bit surprising to me that Apple doesn't offer some sort of way to reformat the drive without using the original disk (e.g. any official install downloads available from Apple?).

DewGuy1999 said:
This won't return it to like new, but it's probably as close as you can get without an install disc. Create a new user account. Delete old user account (your current account). Use Disk Utility to Erase Free Space.
Click to expand...

Good suggestion. I already did this too! :)

The weird thing about this is, apparently it doesn't delete the applications installed on the old user's system. So many of the files remain.
 
svcghost said:
Wow. Thank you for the awesome reply. I can certainly try this. For the time being I do not have my MacBook Pro (at the girlfriend's house for the day).

Any other way to do this besides using another MacBook? It is a bit surprising to me that Apple doesn't offer some sort of way to reformat the drive without using the original disk (e.g. any official install downloads available from Apple?).
Click to expand...

If you do that you will have a completely blank (empty) hard drive, there will be nothing on it and the MacBook will not be able to boot, is that what you really want to do?

svcghost said:
Good suggestion. I already did this too! :)

The weird thing about this is, apparently it doesn't delete the applications installed on the old user's system. So many of the files remain.
Click to expand...

Just delete the applications. Drag 'em to the trash and empty.
 
DewGuy1999 said:
If you do that you will have a completely blank (empty) hard drive, there will be nothing on it and the MacBook will not be able to boot, is that what you really want to do?
Click to expand...

No. Sorry. What I really want is to just wipe everything clean off the hard drive that has to do with me and my personal life / data. I don't want my name on it. I just want it to start clean. And I want it to be able to run Mac OS X Snow Leopard or still have the operating system installed and just delete the data on it so a new user can use it without knowing anything about me.

DewGuy1999 said:
Just delete the applications. Drag 'em to the trash and empty.
Click to expand...

But if I drag stuff to the trash, like applications and images and music, can't people still find it on the hard drive somewhere? Or is that what the Disk Utility --> Erase Free Space function solves?
 
svcghost said:
Hello guys,

Is there any way I can reformat / totally wipe my MacBook and start over? I want to sell the laptop and want to make sure it is at the state it was when I first bought it from Apple. I want all my information and data off of it.

The thing is though, I don't have the original install DVD. All I have is the install DVD for my new MacBook Pro I just bought. So I'm assuming I cannot use that DVD to reformat the MacBook (tried and it failed, I think).

Any suggestions?
Thank you!
Click to expand...

Apple should be able to get you the correct software for a small fee so you can do it properly...
 
svcghost said:
But if I drag stuff to the trash, like applications and images and music, can't people still find it on the hard drive somewhere? Or is that what the Disk Utility --> Erase Free Space function solves?
Click to expand...

Once you've deleted everything that you don't want on it you can then have Disk Utility Erase Free Space. This will erase all of the hard drive that's not occupied by data. Is it as good as reformatting and reinstalling the OS, probably not, but it's probably as good as you can get under your present circumstances. If that's not what you want then I'd second J&JPolangin's advice in the message above.
 
eman said:
Buy Snow Leopard and erase and install.
Click to expand...

I have a Snow Leopard Install DVD (the one you could buy in stores for like 19.99 by itself). Can I use this to erase and install? Need to find it. hehe
 
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