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Author Topic: 24 Hrs. and half done  (Read 1210 times)

Offline kimmer

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24 Hrs. and half done
« on: December 28, 2013, 11:14:38 PM »
A year ago the graphics card on my old iMac bit the dust. I'm still able to boot it up in safe mode, although I can't do much with it as the screen goes wonky. Anyhow, Sneakers and I know this reliable, trustworthy young man who is a Macintosh geek and he said he'd like to have the old iMac to mess with, rather than us take it to the dump. I decided that even though he's trustworthy, why tempt him? So I booted the iMac into safe mode, moved all my docs, photos and a few other things to the trash (1Password was one item). Then I opted to do a secure delete.

The notice said there were 300,000 items to be deleted. Okay. It's now been 24 hours and it's only half done. eek2.gif I figure we'll be able to give this away before the year ends, but just barely. tongue.gif
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Offline jchuzi

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24 Hrs. and half done
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2013, 08:15:32 AM »
It might have been better to erase the hard drive with one of the options (writing all zeroes probably would be fine; 7 or 35 way erase is overkill unless you're worried about the NSA, which already has a copy of all your documents!). That's what I did when I gave an old computer to a friend. I then re-installed the OS so he had a clean copy and could set up his accounts to his satisfaction.
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Jon

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Offline kimmer

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24 Hrs. and half done
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2013, 12:01:02 PM »
QUOTE(jchuzi @ Dec 29 2013, 06:15 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
It might have been better to erase the hard drive with one of the options (writing all zeroes probably would be fine...

Agree, Jon, but this machine is in bad enough shape that it won't start from an external drive. The only way anything works on it is in safe mode, and then there are very few things that will work. This was my only choice.

Update: 36 hours and 73,000 items left to delete. Yup, might be able to catch our young friend tomorrow and get this boat anchor out of my house. Yippee! It's been a great year of cleaning. smile.gif
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Offline Xairbusdriver

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24 Hrs. and half done
« Reply #3 on: December 29, 2013, 03:58:58 PM »
Yep, over-writing a drive is just a PR 'feature' pitch. If you're keeping the drive, there's no point in wasting the electrons just to rearrange the magnetic particles! That was my amazing discovery after doing the same thing you did! doh.gif Live and ... I forget... wallbash.gif
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Offline kimmer

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24 Hrs. and half done
« Reply #4 on: December 29, 2013, 11:23:44 PM »
The "secure delete" came in at just under 48 hours. Tomorrow it goes to our friend. Fun experiment and I'll be glad to have this out of my house. I also have a package to mail to jolly ol' England, but might not make the PO until next year. The USPS requires so much info just to mail a small package to a foreign country. It was easier getting my passport. tongue.gif

QUOTE(Xairbusdriver @ Dec 29 2013, 01:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Yep, over-writing a drive is just a PR 'feature' pitch. If you're keeping the drive, there's no point in wasting the electrons just to rearrange the magnetic particles! That was my amazing discovery after doing the same thing you did! doh.gif Live and ... I forget... wallbash.gif

I was going to keep the drive and get an external enclosure, but giving it to our friend to "work on" held a grand appeal. He's a great "kid" (he's in college and a young adult, but to use he's a still a young kid).

If you're a James Bond fan, the saying is "Live and Let Die". wink.gif
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