how to wipe hard drive on an Apple iBook G4 with no Mac OS X installation disk?

[richardmflood]

I recently purchased an Apple iBook G4 at a yard sale (w/o Mac OS X disks). I want to wipe out all the files from the previous owner, (w/o having to reinstall Mac OS X) but don't know how...any suggestions?

[azulyx]

Hi Richard

You Can Try create a New User and Delete the Old One.
Most of Times  files and Application are Related to User and not to All Users.

Hope That Helps

[socrates]

Agreed.  The only other way you can remove everything is to have the original mac os install discs.

If you want to just delete the old account, open up system preferences, go to "Accounts," create a new account, then login with the new account.  Once you're in with the new account, you can go back to system preferences and delete the old account.

[richardmflood]

I have a mac iBook G4, (w/OS X 10.4.11) with no installation disks. When I attempt to startup, it goes to a grey screen and states several codes, including: "panic(cpu 0 caller 0x002E1Ec4): Unable to find driver for this platform: "PowerBook6,7".

At the bottom of the screen, it also states: panic: We are hanging here...

Can somebody please help me out here and point me in the right direction. I'd like to be able to repair this problem myself, if possible.

[socrates]

Once again, the only way to fix your issue is with mac os install discs.

You could run a disk repair from another friend's mac, but it still won't fix the OS corruption issues you're having.

I would look on eBay for some Tiger install cd's/dvd.  They should be fairly cheap there.