[Delson]

Hi
I'm come into a slight problem. I got a new mac computer for my birthday and as a result, I decided to delete the files off my old mac book - tiger software.

But I hadn't researched how to do it properly and I moved all my files into the trash.

Now I realise that I should have used the disk utility!

How can I check that there is nothing on my hardrive? Do i need to download the disk utility again somehow? Take it to Apple?

Thanks a lot if you reply

[bastion]

Delson, on 09 July 2012 - 12:01 PM, said:

Hi
I'm come into a slight problem. I got a new mac computer for my birthday and as a result, I decided to delete the files off my old mac book - tiger software.

But I hadn't researched how to do it properly and I moved all my files into the trash.

Now I realise that I should have used the disk utility!

How can I check that there is nothing on my hardrive? Do i need to download the disk utility again somehow? Take it to Apple?

Thanks a lot if you reply

If both machines have FireWire, you can start up the old one in target disk mode (by holding T while booting) and connect it to your new one as if it's an external HD. Alternatively you can boot from an OS install disc (presuming you have an optical drive). In either case, you can then run Disk Utility to erase the whole drive or the free space on the old machine's internal drive.

Oh. If you only moved the files to the trash - and didn't empty it - then erasing free space won't be sufficient. You'd have to either wipe the whole disk or delete the contents of the trash, which are at /Users/[yourname]/.Trash if you've booted from a different disk. Obviously, just empty the trash if your old machine is still bootable.

This post has been edited by bastion: 09 July 2012 - 12:12 PM

[Delson]

bastion, on 09 July 2012 - 12:11 PM, said:

Delson, on 09 July 2012 - 12:01 PM, said:

Hi
I'm come into a slight problem. I got a new mac computer for my birthday and as a result, I decided to delete the files off my old mac book - tiger software.

But I hadn't researched how to do it properly and I moved all my files into the trash.

Now I realise that I should have used the disk utility!

How can I check that there is nothing on my hardrive? Do i need to download the disk utility again somehow? Take it to Apple?

Thanks a lot if you reply

If both machines have FireWire, you can start up the old one in target disk mode (by holding T while booting) and connect it to your new one as if it's an external HD. Alternatively you can boot from an OS install disc (presuming you have an optical drive). In either case, you can then run Disk Utility to erase the whole drive or the free space on the old machine's internal drive.

Oh. If you only moved the files to the trash - and didn't empty it - then erasing free space won't be sufficient. You'd have to either wipe the whole disk or delete the contents of the trash, which are at /Users/[yourname]/.Trash if you've booted from a different disk. Obviously, just empty the trash if your old machine is still bootable.

Thank you very much for your reply

Both my machines have FireWire but I didn't use it because I don't have the cable that I need.

So instead, I booted the computer up with the Mac Install Disc and using Disk Utility I erased the free space. Does this mean that the harddrive disc won't be usable again? I remember that the erasing just writes 0s and 1s over the data, but does this mean that the harddrive won't be usable for someone who I will sell the computer too?

Thank you for the help, Delson

[bastion]

Delson, on 18 July 2012 - 11:01 AM, said:

bastion, on 09 July 2012 - 12:11 PM, said:

Delson, on 09 July 2012 - 12:01 PM, said:

Hi
I'm come into a slight problem. I got a new mac computer for my birthday and as a result, I decided to delete the files off my old mac book - tiger software.

But I hadn't researched how to do it properly and I moved all my files into the trash.

Now I realise that I should have used the disk utility!

How can I check that there is nothing on my hardrive? Do i need to download the disk utility again somehow? Take it to Apple?

Thanks a lot if you reply

If both machines have FireWire, you can start up the old one in target disk mode (by holding T while booting) and connect it to your new one as if it's an external HD. Alternatively you can boot from an OS install disc (presuming you have an optical drive). In either case, you can then run Disk Utility to erase the whole drive or the free space on the old machine's internal drive.

Oh. If you only moved the files to the trash - and didn't empty it - then erasing free space won't be sufficient. You'd have to either wipe the whole disk or delete the contents of the trash, which are at /Users/[yourname]/.Trash if you've booted from a different disk. Obviously, just empty the trash if your old machine is still bootable.

Thank you very much for your reply

Both my machines have FireWire but I didn't use it because I don't have the cable that I need.

So instead, I booted the computer up with the Mac Install Disc and using Disk Utility I erased the free space. Does this mean that the harddrive disc won't be usable again? I remember that the erasing just writes 0s and 1s over the data, but does this mean that the harddrive won't be usable for someone who I will sell the computer too?

Thank you for the help, Delson

The hard drive will be perfectly usable.

Uh. It's not clear from the post: Did you actually delete the files before erasing the free space?

[Delson]

bastion, on 18 July 2012 - 12:15 PM, said:

Delson, on 18 July 2012 - 11:01 AM, said:

bastion, on 09 July 2012 - 12:11 PM, said:

Delson, on 09 July 2012 - 12:01 PM, said:

Hi
I'm come into a slight problem. I got a new mac computer for my birthday and as a result, I decided to delete the files off my old mac book - tiger software.

But I hadn't researched how to do it properly and I moved all my files into the trash.

Now I realise that I should have used the disk utility!

How can I check that there is nothing on my hardrive? Do i need to download the disk utility again somehow? Take it to Apple?

Thanks a lot if you reply

If both machines have FireWire, you can start up the old one in target disk mode (by holding T while booting) and connect it to your new one as if it's an external HD. Alternatively you can boot from an OS install disc (presuming you have an optical drive). In either case, you can then run Disk Utility to erase the whole drive or the free space on the old machine's internal drive.

Oh. If you only moved the files to the trash - and didn't empty it - then erasing free space won't be sufficient. You'd have to either wipe the whole disk or delete the contents of the trash, which are at /Users/[yourname]/.Trash if you've booted from a different disk. Obviously, just empty the trash if your old machine is still bootable.

Thank you very much for your reply

Both my machines have FireWire but I didn't use it because I don't have the cable that I need.

So instead, I booted the computer up with the Mac Install Disc and using Disk Utility I erased the free space. Does this mean that the harddrive disc won't be usable again? I remember that the erasing just writes 0s and 1s over the data, but does this mean that the harddrive won't be usable for someone who I will sell the computer too?

Thank you for the help, Delson

The hard drive will be perfectly usable.

Uh. It's not clear from the post: Did you actually delete the files before erasing the free space?

Well what I do know is that I dragged my user into the trash and told it to delete. My dock then disappeared and when I rebooted the computer wouldn't go into normal usage. The old user doesn't show up now after I have done an erase and reinstall from a Mac Install Disc.

However, when I look at the amount of used space on my MacBook Hardrive it says 17GB and I've calculated 15GB by adding the space for each folder (application, library, users etc.) because I did an erase and install on the Mac Install Disc. May this 4GB be the old user??

I would have done an entire wipe of the harddrive but the button for the entire wipe wouldn't show up when I opened disk utility on the computer that was booted with the install disc. Do you know how I could right this to do an entire wipe??

[bastion]

Delson, on 18 July 2012 - 01:39 PM, said:

I would have done an entire wipe of the harddrive but the button for the entire wipe wouldn't show up when I opened disk utility on the computer that was booted with the install disc. Do you know how I could right this to do an entire wipe??

You should be able to wipe a disk as long as you're not booted from, or running DU from, that disk.