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How to erase Macbook from 2008 running 10.5.8 when the CD/DVD drive is broken?

The computer works fine (albeit slow) so it's worth selling or donating. But I am stymied trying to erase it and reinstall system software because there is no Recovery mode in 10.5 (nor does there seem to be internet recovery mode) and any system software update disk I put in grinds then ejects. I also can't find a disk image or installer to download from Apple's servers or anywhere else on the internet. What are our options here?

MacBook

Posted on Jan 31, 2022 2:16 PM

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Posted on Jan 31, 2022 2:28 PM

You could get an external optical drive and try that way. Or a bootable USB drive: How to create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support


Internet Recovery was only added in 2011 with macOS 10.7 Lion and only some 2010 and later Macs could be updated to support it.




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7 replies

Feb 6, 2022 7:01 AM in response to semidivine___

Plug the hard drive into another Mac, then go into disk utility on the other Mac and select the hard drive you want to erase. Click erase from the options and change the name to something generic for the new owner. Then you can connect an external CD drive or use a USB to install Mac OS X. A 2008 MacBook can run up to OS X El Capitan (10.11.6) natively. You can easily download the installer for El Capitan from Apple if you google search how to get old OS X.

How to erase Macbook from 2008 running 10.5.8 when the CD/DVD drive is broken?

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