How would you

[RonT]

Go about wiping your personal information from an old laptop
(Macbook 2.13ghz core 2 duo w/OS 10.6.8)
without damaging the OS. (The computer didn't come with the OS on CD/ROM when we purchased it from Apple.

Thanks in advance for your helpful miley-signs001: suggestions.

[richorlin]

Create a new user. Log out. Login under new user. Delete the original user and make sure you select delete the home folder. Simple

[bazookaman]

richorlin wrote:
Create a new user. Log out. Login under new user. Delete the original user and make sure you select delete the home folder. Simple

Simple. Heh. I have several back and forth e-mails from my mom on this very topic that tell a different story.

[OWC Jamie]

10.6.3 is $20

[clay]

If you want to be sure that the deleted data can't be recovered, do a "erase free space" from within Disk Utility after following richorlin's instructions above. Oh, and like billb suggests, it would pretty easy to grab a 10.6 DVD from Apple for $20, which would give you a backup in case the drive ever crashed.

[RonT]

billb wrote:
10.6.3 is $20

The computer currently has 10.6.8 on it. Is it possible to substitute and older OS for a newer one?

(I apologize if this sounds like and inexperienced persons question - but where this kinda stuff is concerned that's exactly what I am.)

[BernDog]

RonT wrote:
[quote=billb]
10.6.3 is $20

The computer currently has 10.6.8 on it. Is it possible to substitute and older OS for a newer one?

(I apologize if this sounds like and inexperienced persons question - but where this kinda stuff is concerned that's exactly what I am.)
A clean install wipes the old stuff off. Doesn't matter that it's older. Run updates back up to .8 when you're done.

[OWC Jamie]

RonT wrote:
[quote=billb]
10.6.3 is $20

The computer currently has 10.6.8 on it. Is it possible to substitute and older OS for a newer one?

(I apologize if this sounds like and inexperienced persons question - but where this kinda stuff is concerned that's exactly what I am.)
10.2, 10.3 etc should autoupdate to 10.6.8


If your macbook came with no discs then you should have a recovery partition ( command R - hold both keys after the start-up chime until a utility screen pops up ) there's a lot of choices there. Unless it was removed.


* I thought disc recovery and net recovery was 10.7 and up though

[RAMd®d]

If you buy a disk, make sure that its version is newer than whatever version your Mac shipped with, and supported, of course.

[Racer X]

That machine probably shipped with 10.4