- HOW TO RECYCLE MAC COMPUTER HOW TO
- HOW TO RECYCLE MAC COMPUTER MAC OS X
- HOW TO RECYCLE MAC COMPUTER PLUS
- HOW TO RECYCLE MAC COMPUTER SERIES
If you're really paranoid and have a lot of time, why not do a 35-pass erase? The overwriting process takes a while - it often takes eight or more hours to do a 7-pass erase on a 250 GB drive. Note that overwriting data actually hasn't been in the standard since 2007 - the DOD now requires degaussing or physical destruction of drives - so Apple is a bit behind the times. My personal choice is always the 7-pass erase, which (as you can see in the screenshot below) meets the US Department of Defense 5220-22M standard for securely erasing magnetic media by erasing the drive index files and writing over the data seven times. Here you have a couple of options, each of which is progressively more secure than the previous. Select the drive (usually given the horribly unoriginal name of Macintosh HD), and then click on the Erase tab of Disk Utility.īefore you click the Erase button, I suggest that you click the nearby Security Options button.
HOW TO RECYCLE MAC COMPUTER MAC OS X
The best way to do this is to boot from a Mac OS X installer DVD, go to the Utilities menu when the installer comes up, and select Disk Utility. You never know where it's going to end up, so you want to make darn sure none of your personal information is retrievable. Here, I'm talking about erasing your hard drive. Step Four: Nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure Instead, this makes sure that you don't accidentally bump up against the limit of five computers that can play your iTunes Store purchases. It's not that anybody is going to be able to buy music or listen to your music, since we'll take care of that in the next step. If you have more than one computer, you might want to deauthorize iTunes on the old machine that you're about to get rid of.
Step Three: Deauthorize iTunes (Optional) Think about everything you've used your Mac for in the past, and make sure that any application you might ever need is either loaded onto the new Mac or can be downloaded and re-licensed quickly. I recommend that you purchase the new Mac first, get it set up the way you want and transfer all of the data to it (either over file sharing or using the Migration Assistant found in the Utilities folder), and give yourself a week or two to make sure that your new machine isn't going to experience the heartbreak of infant mortality. I've had friends who have basically sold their old Macs before they've even thought about buying another one. Step Two: Make sure your new machine is running smoothly Photo by Flickr user sfllaw, licensed under Creative Commons
HOW TO RECYCLE MAC COMPUTER HOW TO
I'm so paranoid that I usually keep the Time Machine backup and a secondary backup (usually made with Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper!) for a while, even after I've switched machines.Ĭlick the Read More link to learn more about how to get that old Mac ready for sale. Even if you're using Time Machine to back up your Mac onto an external hard disk drive, I recommend going through your important directories - Applications, Documents, Downloads, Photos, Music, and Movies - to make sure that everything has either been migrated to your new Mac or is available from a backup. There's nothing worse than nuking the hard drive on a computer and then realizing that you've just destroyed irreplaceable photos, documents, or recordings. Step One: Make sure everything is backed up In any case, there are some things you'll want to do to prepare the Mac for sale or recycling. Some of us donate our machines to schools or other worthwhile organizations, and if we have really old equipment, we may just recycle it. At some point, we decide that it's time to take that old Mac that we've just replaced and try to get a few bucks out of it. Instead, cut up an expired credit card, and then use a rounded corner as the end of your 'pick' to prise open the drive case firmly, but carefully.It happens to all of us eventually (except for the Mac collectors).
It's a good idea to avoid using sharp or metallic objects to prise open the caddy as these can damage it – some experts use guitar picks, but you don't need to rush out and buy a job lot. We suggest you watch the whole video before reaching for tools.
HOW TO RECYCLE MAC COMPUTER PLUS
Enter the name of your drive's make and model in Google, such as Seagate Backup Plus 4TB, plus the words "open case", which should find you a suitable video. So, your first task is to track down one of these and use it, in conjunction with our step-by-step guide, to transfer your disk from its old case to a shiny new enclosure. Thankfully, others have boldly gone before you and documented the dismantling process on YouTube and other websites.
HOW TO RECYCLE MAC COMPUTER SERIES
Prepopulated external hard drives aren't designed to be user-serviceable, so you'll rarely find convenient screws holding them together instead, a series of plastic tabs click the chassis's various elements into place.