Puter Question

[kenny]

My 8 yr old apple iMac's screen is getting grey hair, and sometimes it's doing strange things.
Like, last week every thumbnail on my desktop (about 60) vanished, poof, mysteriously gone.
But powering the puter off and back on restored all the thumbnails.
Whew!

It's about time for a new puter.
apple will buy my old puter and put the money towards a new one.

But what about all that personal info on the hard drive?
I thought that even if you delete files they are not actually removed from the hard drive.
It just deletes the ability of regular people to access the files - which are actually fully intact.
It can be accessed by those in the know, geeks and orgs like the FBI and CIA etc.

So, my question is ... can I fully delete, overwrite, purge, (whatever the term) everything on the hard drive totally and absolutely, For Sure, For Sure?!?

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

After moving everything to an external drive you can wipe it and reset. It's the only option you have unless you keep the HD itself. *Sign out and unpair everything*, format your HD and reinstall the OS.

How to reset your Mac before selling it

Protect your data by clearing everything off your computer.

www.imore.com

This will give you steps to erase all data drive folders, etc...

 

[Karl_K]

So, my question is ... can I fully delete, overwrite, purge, (whatever the term) everything on the hard drive totally and absolutely, For Sure, For Sure?!?

NO!
Well yes sorta you can remove it from the computer and physically destroy the hard drive and platters.
A sledge hammer will do the trick or you can take it to a place that will shred it for you in front of you in some areas.
A blow torch can also melt it to a puddle works also.

 

[Karl_K]

After moving everything to an external drive you can wipe it and reset. It's the only option you have unless you keep the HD itself. *Sign out and unpair everything*, format your HD and reinstall the OS.

How to reset your Mac before selling it

Protect your data by clearing everything off your computer.

www.imore.com

This will give you steps to erase all data drive folders, etc...

I have had old data recovered from a drive after all that happening to the drive, it was not cheap and is not 100% that any data will be recovered but it can be done.

 

[kenny]

I just remembered the term "reformatting".
IIRC that actually recored emptiness over the data.

IIRC we used to be able to do this to Macs from the 1990s.

 

[SparklieBug]

My old machines were always too old for recycling by Apple, so I removed the drives and took the rest of the computer to a recycle depot. The drives, when taken apart, have beautiful discs!

 

[Karl_K]

I just remembered the term "reformatting".
IIRC that actually recored emptiness over the data.

IIRC we used to be able to do this to Macs from the 1990s.

The most common form of reformatting these days just deletes the main copy of the to put it in simple terms "index" that tells where each file is located and its name etc.
The data is still on the disk and there are other copies of the index that can be recovered.
A full format on the other hand used to zero out to the entire drive but on a modern hard drive that could take many hours.
So it is just not done even if it say its doing a long format.
Even with an old fashioned full zeroing out of the drive the data can still be recovered a lot of the time. They change the offset of the head, like changing channels on a 8 track tape player and the old data will be there and can be read with the right setup $$$$$$$.

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

Yes, it's true, if you pulverize anything, that tends to be the end of it.
Unless you're committing crime, reformatting is a viable option without physically keeping the HD or making it possibly void for return. It is going back to Apple. Nobody cares enough to dig about what kind of data you have; it's not like they're going to put it on in the breakroom for funsies and if they were to 'go Sith' and steal an identity, well, there's a direct transaction chain that gets in the way. Apple is on the hook.

 

[kenny]

On apple's website I found out my puter is worth $375 towards a purchase.
Also, below is a screen capture about data privacy.

Should I trust that the data is "completely removed from your device"?

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

As much as anything, I guess. Go with what makes you feel comfortable. If anything were to be breached and you ever got wind of it, Apple could make you a rich man. Once they have it, it's their responsibility of liability to keep your HD safe until they(likely) recycle it.

Wait:
Are we going to find out that Kenny is The Most Interesting Man in the World?
Because, I mean, I'm kinda here for it.

 

[kenny]

Maybe I should auction off this Holy Grail from the Man of Mystery on eBay.

 

[Karl_K]

On apple's website I found out my puter is worth $375 towards a purchase.
Also, below is a screen capture about data privacy.

Should I trust that the data is "completely removed from your device"?

No, because it will not be.
It might be beyond the point where someone might try and recover it depending on the procedure.
It depends on how paranoid you are.
I keep my hard drives and reuse them or destroy them.

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

Maybe I should auction off this Holy Grail from the Man of Mystery on eBay.

I'd buy that for a dollar!

 

[Gussie]

I don't know. My husband is also leary of digital info getting out. He and Karl would get along great! We have 8, yes 8, old computers in the garage, the oldest one is probably pre-2000.

 

[lilmosun]

I don't know. My husband is also leary of digital info getting out. He and Karl would get along great! We have 8, yes 8, old computers in the garage, the oldest one is probably pre-2000.

As others mentioned, pull the hard drives out and physically destroy them to get them out of the garage

 

[Gussie]

As others mentioned, pull the hard drives out and physically destroy them to get them out of the garage

My husband is a cough*hoarder*cough lol! His parents were uber-frugal and he has a hard time throwing stuff away. He is also a tinkerer so he saves everything for some crazy future use. The garage collects for a few years and then one day he will clean it all out. The garage will be nice and neat, only to start the cycle again. I adore my husband and all his quirks lol!

 

[MrsBlue]

i wouldnt even begin to know how to access the hard drive on an imac. apple doesn't exactly encourage that sort of thing. on the other side you have pc folks who regularly tear their stuff apart and put it back together.

 

[MamaBee]

I don't know. My husband is also leary of digital info getting out. He and Karl would get along great! We have 8, yes 8, old computers in the garage, the oldest one is probably pre-2000.

We do too..We’re going to move in the next year so we will take out the hard drives and hammer the heck out of them…

 

[snowballs mom]

I am another vote for pulling the hard drives and using a sledge hammer.

 

[pearlsngems]

I have an old iMac to dispose of as well. I see various videos on YouTube about how to remove hard drives.