Reinstall/Restore?

[jvjava]

I am planning on selling my macbook, which has Lion installed. I would like to return the computer to the factory settings, where there is no user accounts, or user information on the hard drive, so when they turn it on, it is like it just came from the store. Does anyone know the best way to do this with Lion installed?
Thanks,

Jon

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Since you bought Lion via your own Apple account, you can't really sell it with the machine. Snow Leopard will suffice.
Mac 101: Preparing your old Mac for sale or recycling

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[jvjava]

Thanks for the help

I have done this in the past using the install dvd, but I was a little worried about Lion, with it coming from the app store and all... Thanks, again

 

[jvjava]

Cannot revert back to snow leopard

I tried to restore with snow leopard disc, and it said the app. couldn't be used with this version of OS X

 

[Mal]

Please make sure you have deleted your data beyond recovery because data which is simply erased can be recovered easily using data recovery software. Try to use most effective wiping software for the same. I found Stellar Wipe using 37 passes algorithm to wipeout data, which means filling zero 37 times over the data. however you can use disk utility for this purpose but my personal experience was not good with it. One of my friend recovered data easily from a drive wiped through disk utility.

Disk Utility is fine. A standard wipe can be recovered (because it just erases the directory), but if you zero the drive, it cannot be recovered by anything your friend has available.

OP, use Disk Utility to completely wipe the drive before attempting to reinstall Snow Leopard. To do it right, choose the drive from the menu (the listing that indicates the size, not the name of the drive), and click on the Partition tab. Choose 1 Partition from the drop-down menu, then the Partition button at the bottom. This will remove the Recovery Partition as well (which is what is preventing Snow Leopard from installing). Then you can install Snow Leopard.

jW

 

[simsaladimbamba]

I tried to restore with snow leopard disc, and it said the app. couldn't be used with this version of OS X

What "app"?
What exact MacBook do you have and with what Mac OS X version did it come?

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