I'm helping a friend with an estate sale. The computer is a Mac Mini G4 that's still running OSX 10.4.11. My question pertains to the security of the account registered on the device. The original owner of the computer is now deceased but their account is still active on the machine. I would love to just erase his account but I'm not sure how or if that would render the machine unusable. I don't have the original Tiger install disc either. If I sell the machine with his account active (it goes right to his desktop with no password, which I don't have anyway), am I taking any security risk? I have already erased any private information from the hard drive but coming from an iPhone/iCloud background, I am unsure if anything could be restored from the cloud or not. Thanks for any help.
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Security concerns when selling a Mac Mini?
- Thread starter Gilligan3816
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Yes it can be restored by someone who wants to. Throwing files in the trash doesn't remove the data from the drive until something is written over it. Selling it without the OS isn't going to really hurt the value any. Somebody buying a G4 Mini probably has their own OS discs. Best way to deal with removing the data would be to boot it from an OS disc and use Disk Utility to write all zeros to the drive.
I second what Hrududu said. Speaking as a buyer/seller of PPC Macs not having an OS is not a big deal. Unless it is loaded with valuable software like Office, Photoshop, Adobe, etc. then it really is no big deal to sell it with no OS. When I buy the machines I usually do a clean install as it is, so I do not care if there is an OS as it is. Heck, even take out the HDD if you want, but that WILL affect the price.
That being said, if there are no real sensitive things on the machine it may not be worth the effort to erase it, particularly since the owner is not around; and most buyers are not going to go through the hassle to restore sensitive data.
That being said, if there are no real sensitive things on the machine it may not be worth the effort to erase it, particularly since the owner is not around; and most buyers are not going to go through the hassle to restore sensitive data.
Is it still possible to buy a copy of OSX Tiger anywhere? Apples doesn't support it and the Apple Store says they don't sell it anymore.
Yes, look on Amazon or Ebay. Might be expensive, but worth it for collector value. If you can't sell it in the estate sale, other people here might be interested (I might be) just list it in the Marketplace section of the forums.