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Erasing a very old iMac (no installation discs or recovery mode)

Hi. I'm trying to completely erase a pre-2011 iMac (not sure of the year, it doesn't say in System Profiler). It's running OS10.6.8, if that matters.


I don't have any installation discs, and neither Cmd-R nor Cmd-Opt-R produce Recovery Mode. I don't have any backup installation drive. Is there any way of erasing it safely apart from just smashing it up?


Thanks.

Posted on May 7, 2021 9:09 AM

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Posted on May 7, 2021 9:56 AM

Buy the white SL DVD, you can still find them on Ebay. You can also physically remove the hard drive from the computer and take a sledge hammer to it. Then use Apple's recycling services to properly recycle the computer.


On such an old machine, those are the options available.

7 replies

May 7, 2021 10:15 AM in response to Stephen Coltrane

Followup to rkaufmann's wise counsel:


https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1311&_nkw=mac+os+x+snow+leopard&_sacat=0


Avoid any that say "upgrade" in the title. Sealed packages are best. Reject any gray system install/restore disks; they often only work on a very narrow range of model variants.


Amazon was pretty much devoid of Snow Leopard disks.


I personally agree with extracting the old drive. No pre-2011 iMac will have much retained use so a disk removal will not affect the fate of the computer after it leaves your possession. Being an older model the HD is easier to access. Look for videos here.



Erasing a very old iMac (no installation discs or recovery mode)

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