Write to zeros, reinstall leopard

[msb65]

Hi,

I own a Unibody MacBook Pro that I recently purchased. I would like to zero out the entire HD and reinstall Leopard. I called up Apple and asked them to walk me through the process. They had me install the Mac OS X dvd, and then boot up using that. I chose the Erase and Install Method.

I mentioned to the Apple rep that I had zeroed out my HD and reinstalled Leopard on a previous computer in a different manner (used Disk Utility - but i forget the process). I was under the impression that the Erase and Install Method just simply erases the locations of your files, and doesn't actually zero out the HD. However, he assured me that it does since I have an Intel machine, and makes 7 different passes. I remain skeptical.

- Can anyone confirm this? I was always under the impression that to write to zero I had to go to Disk Utility. I forget that method and expected them to tell me. Instead they suggested the Erase and Install.

- I have a hunch (although tiny) that this Apple rep was wrong. Can anyone detail the process to zero out your ENTIRE HD and then reinstall Leopard?

Thanks!

 

[RiverFox]

Chain it via USB to a PC running SpinRite6 and use that. If anyone has a better way, please add.

 

[msb65]

Chain it via USB to a PC running SpinRite6 and use that. If anyone has a better way, please add.

Hi RiverFox. I appreciate the reply. However I do not own a PC.

 

[melchior]

the apple rep, as always, knows jack.

in the installer dvd, from the menu bar you can open disk utility. select your partition to erase. then you can choose your erase options. zero the drive, do the 7 times writing of random data, etc...

spinrite is better because it will test and mark bad sectors, but this will do the trick if you are just concerned about people using data recovery tools on your disk.

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

Google for DBAN.

It's a free bootable CD which specialises in securely erasing hard disks.