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Destroying your files is a single step, well-implemented in Mac OS, and you don't even have to do this if you simply install a fresh OS and use the right settin
by Bud 16y ago
Destroying your files is a single step, well-implemented in Mac OS, and you don't even have to do this if you simply install a fresh OS and use the right settings.
Selling your old laptop is easy via Craigslist.
Copying files takes a few minutes with FireWire disk mode.
There is no separate step for "personal settings"; those are copied over when you copy your home directory over.
There is also almost never a new keyboard layout.
There is almost never a major hardware issue, either.
- kenjackson 16y agoDestroying your files is a single step, well-implemented in Mac OS, and you don't even have to do this if you simply install a fresh OS and use the right settings I don't think installing a fresh OS will remove personal data sufficiently. But maybe there is a setting to do a secure clean?
- bensummers 16y agoThere is a secure wipe option in the Mac OS X install process.
- msbarnett 16y agoThere's a secure wipe option. You can crank it up to some absurdly paranoid set of passes, although it takes a day or two to complete at that level given a reasonably large drive.
- kenjackson 16y agoA day or two is fine. I had a friend who would go through old donated computers to get data off of them. I think the odds are pretty high that people will try on a given machine you give away.
- astrange 16y agoThere is no physical reason to use more than one pass on an HD. And of course erasing an SSD is near-instant.
- whimsy 16y agoMy understanding runs counter to your assertion. Why do you say that there's no physical reason to use more than one pass?
- astrange 16y agoThere is no way to detect HD contents past the current write. It has never been demonstrated that anyone has done it, and data recovery companies will not recover your disk if you accidentally erase the blocks. The misconception that you can do that comes from a misreading of a paper by Gutmann that only applied to an obsolete disk recording method in the first place. The reason people use methods other than 1-pass erasing is because of marketing thinking that more passes looks better on the product features. Or because the IT people enjoy buying heavy machinery so they can destroy stuff with it.