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How can I remove all personal data from my Mini?

D

dh2005

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 25, 2010
907
0
Hello folks,

I just sold a Mini on eBay. I'm liquidating four computers/consoles to buy a Mac Pro.

Is there a way of getting rid of everything that I've put onto it in the past ten months? I was thinking, maybe, about reinstalling the OS - will that wipe-away everything that was previously on the hard drive?

Thanks in advance,



DH.
 
this is a great thread

Thanks, glad to know I only have to perform a single secured erase.

I was one of those people under the impression you had to do at least 7 or more passes of secured erase to effectively wipe the hard drive.
 
No. A single pass will remove data beyond what anyone, even the government, can recover.

And in any case, if you're allowed to post on public forums its likely that what information you have isn't important enough for anyone to really care about stealing. :)
 
Hi guys,
there is NOT a way to get rid of most of the bits on your HD with ANY software...
Only secure deletion is by:
Destroying the HD physically - smashing or cutting it up in VERY small pieces.
De-magnetizing the HD - but I doubt you could find a magnet strong enough to do it nowdays...(Because of the DENSITY of todays HD).
 
miles01110 said:
Even though that isn't true,
Click to expand...

That is false information. There is no company or agency in the world that can economically recover reassembleable data from a hard drive that has been overwritten.
The only potential methods cost several million dollars and, again, if you're allowed to post on a public forum the information you have on your hard drive is not valuable.

And if the data IS that valuable then releasing the drive into somebody elses hands is not an option. After erasing it the drive would have to be physically destroyed to meet government and government contractor data protection standards.

Hi guys,
there is NOT a way to get rid of most of the bits on your HD with ANY software...
Click to expand...
That is false information. A single bit-by-bit overwrite will render any data previously on the drive 100% unrecoverable.

De-magnetizing the HD - but I doubt you could find a magnet strong enough to do it nowdays...(Because of the DENSITY of todays HD).
Click to expand...
Density plays no part in a platter's magnetic resistance.
 
Subscribing to thread. Aren't there layers of data which are recoverable under an overwritten hdd, especially a hurriedly re-formatted hdd. Have I always been right/ wrong about this or has technology changed while I was out back taking a leak?

And to the OP, one re-formatting will suffice for re-sale unless it's something illegal you're trying to hide and then they're going to get you no matter what you try to do to erase that evidence. ;)
 
srf4real said:
Subscribing to thread. Aren't there layers of data which are recoverable under an overwritten hdd, especially a hurriedly re-formatted hdd. Have I always been right/ wrong about this or has technology changed while I was out back taking a leak?

And to the OP, one re-formatting will suffice for re-sale unless it's something illegal you're trying to hide and then they're going to get you no matter what you try to do to erase that evidence. ;)
Click to expand...

35 pass erase is very hard to find anything even 7 pass is very good.
 
srf4real said:
Aren't there layers of data which are recoverable under an overwritten hdd
Click to expand...
No. There is only one layer of magnetic material on a hard drive's platter. Once a bit is changed there is no possible way to determine later on if its magnetic polarity was changed.

especially a hurriedly re-formatted hdd.
Click to expand...
A plain reformat leaves all the data intact, it merely removes the structure that says what file is where. A complete erase must be done to remove all data.

philipma1957 said:
35 pass erase is very hard to find anything even 7 pass is very good.
Click to expand...
A single pass is extremely difficult to recover anything! Two passes makes it physically impossible, especially if its overwritten with random ASCII characters instead of a plain zero out.

Stan Mikulenka said:
You will net get much help on 'MacRumors' about it (the name says it all).
Click to expand...

Especially from Stan Mikulenka, he believes the rumor that overwritten data can be recovered!
 
Thanks for these replies. I was thinking it was just a simple "d'uh!!! Don't you know anything?!" type-question. Wasn't expecting a lively debate!

It's not 'sensitive' data or anything. But there are lots of programs that I've installed - iWorks, MS Office, stuff like that - that I want to take with me to my next computer. Rather than uninstalling them one by one, I was thinking that a reformat and reinstall of the OS would be simpler.

Thoughts?
 
If you're more worried about programs than data, a reformat should be fine for your needs. If you have a small amount of data, delete it and then use the secure empty trash command to empty the trash.

As mentioned above, most of the methods to reformat are good enough that the value of the data that might be recovered is less than the cost to recover it. So while something might be TECHNICALLY possible, it may also be FINANCIALLY impossible...or at least impractical...

Just my 2 cents.


Nabby
 
Interesting twist this thread has taken.

If the OP isn't a spy trying to protect classified secrets, a secure erase of the hard drive is more than enough, as the third poster said. The buyer isn't going to go to elaborate lengths to recover securely deleted personal information.
 
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