Resetting

[JulesBravo]

I just bought a used powerbook g4, how do I reset the memory of it? It has a bunch of the old guys stuff on it and the hard drive and stuff are his name. How do I just reset the whole thing?

 

[MPython8118]

You mean reformat the hard drive?

I'm not positive, I haven't done this in a while, but I'm fairly certain that if you insert the OS X CD and reinstall the OS, it should include the option to format the hard drive along with it.

If it doesn't give you this option, you'll have to use Disk Utility in the Utilities folder and use the Erase function to erase the disc. I'm not sure, but I think that, given that this is the disk the OS is on, you'll need to boot from the OS X CD by booting with the disc in the drive and holding down the C key.

 

[JulesBravo]

I bought it used, the guy I bought it from say he doesn't have the cd. Anyway to get around this? Thanks.

 

[Black Morty Rackham]

The short answer is "no". If you format the drive, you have to reinstall the OS. If you don't have a CD, you cannot reinstall the OS. You'll have to clean the hard drive manually, I suppose... or just buy Panther.

 

[gigglebyte]

if you don't have the CD's you are screwed...you have to have a retail copy of the OS (not an upgrade) to load everything back on...if you are a student you can get it for $69 if not then $129 and that will get you the most recient version of the OS....there is a utility to erase the drive called disk utility and that is on the CD and that will allow you to erase the drive then you just do an install and setup the way you like and you are done