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dolphins
Clean Up Our Oceans
Premium Member
join:2001-08-22
Westville, NJ

4 edits

dolphins

Premium Member

How to wipe and restore Mac Pro to factory specs

Hello all you Apple people. I've recently been asked to sell a Mac Pro »MAC PRO What is it worth? due to a death in the family. I have no experience with OS X. I will be saving all personal files to a 500GB portable drive. Once I do so I need to wipe (DBAN) the HDD and restore OS X without restore disks. Can someone guide me through the steps?

EDIT:

MAC PRO 4.1 (2009)
Model: A1289
EMC: 2313
Serial: YM9300CN4PC

Specifications:

Mac OS X 10.5.6 10.6.8
One 2.66 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon Nehalem
3GB RAM (4GB installed)
640GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive
GeForce GT 120 512MB GDDR3 SDRAM Video Card
Bluetooth
2 X 10/100/1000mbps Ethernet ports (wired)
One 18x SuperDrive
Apple Wired Mouse (Missing)
Apple Wired Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (Missing 'Z' key)

Note: Monitor not included!

darcilicious
Cyber Librarian
Premium Member
join:2001-01-02
Forest Grove, OR

darcilicious

Premium Member

Start here maybe? »support.apple.com/en-us/HT4718 though I think it means you can't run DBAN...

dolphins
Clean Up Our Oceans
Premium Member
join:2001-08-22
Westville, NJ

dolphins

Premium Member

Thanks.

I found this »mashable.com/2013/10/23/ ··· vericks/ but it's not clear to me where or how I reinstall the drivers for this particular machine?

mbernste
MVM
join:2001-06-30
Piscataway, NJ

mbernste

MVM

If it has a recovery partition then it has all the necessary drivers for the machine. Likewise if it is old enough to have a DVD drive, then all the drivers it needs would be on that. If neither is an option, you might be able to download an ISO of Yosemite (which is free) and do a clean install.

Tinkster
Premium Member
join:2003-07-16
Rosedale, MD

Tinkster to dolphins

Premium Member

to dolphins
»support.apple.com/en-us/HT4718

mbernste
MVM
join:2001-06-30
Piscataway, NJ

1 recommendation

mbernste

MVM

That was already posted above.

Tinkster
Premium Member
join:2003-07-16
Rosedale, MD

Tinkster

Premium Member

And it was posted again...

dolphins
Clean Up Our Oceans
Premium Member
join:2001-08-22
Westville, NJ

dolphins

Premium Member

This machine belonged to a young woman who was killed in an auto accident. I need to completely wipe the drive and make it so no data is recoverable, then reinstall OS X with all drivers so it can be sold. It was purchased new in 2009 and is running OS X 10.5.6.

I guess I'll hold off with anymore questions until I'm ready to wipe and reinstall. This way I can have it up and running simultaneously with my XP machine. I only have one monitor so I can only connect one machine at a time.
Daemon
Premium Member
join:2003-06-29
Washington, DC

Daemon to dolphins

Premium Member

to dolphins
Presuming it was bought new in 2009 like you said, it's likely a early-2008 or newer Mac Pro model, which means it can run OS X 10.10 (Yosemite), which is the most current version and the one most desirable to most buyers.

Yosemite is free, but it isn't available on disk. To install it, you'll need to go to an Apple store (or the home of a friend with a mac) with a 8GB USB key, then you can follow the instructions here to download and install a free copy of yosemite on the flash drive. (You'll also need an Apple ID to login and download it)

When you get home, pop the flash drive in, then hold down the option key on the keyboard right after you power on the mac. It should pop up a drive selector and let you select the USB key. After some minutes, you'll be in the OS X installer. From there, first launch disk utility to erase the existing drive. After that, quit disk utility and launch the install Yosemite process.

Yosemite will install a recovery partition on the drive that is bootable with command+R on startup which makes re-installing the OS easier in the future, but OS X 10.5 didn't include one.

not quite right
I'm not cool enough to be a Mac person
join:2001-06-23
Puyallup, WA

not quite right to dolphins

Member

to dolphins
said by dolphins:

I need to completely wipe the drive and make it so no data is recoverable, then reinstall OS X with all drivers so it can be sold.

All the drivers are included in the OS. One of the beauties of OS X is you won't spend the next 12 hours downloading Service packs, security updates, and drivers ...

HiVolt
Premium Member
join:2000-12-28
Toronto, ON

HiVolt to dolphins

Premium Member

to dolphins
said by dolphins:

Thanks.

I found this »mashable.com/2013/10/23/ ··· vericks/ but it's not clear to me where or how I reinstall the drivers for this particular machine?

There are no separate drivers to install on a Mac. Everything is included with the OS X installation. That's all you need to find.

I think the last OS X that can be burned/installed to a DVD is Mountain Lion (10.8), so if you can find a .DMG on a torrent site, you can burn it with Disk Utility, boot from this dvd, then in disk utility wipe the partition, recreate it, and reinstall Mountain Lion, then afterwards from the App Store (you will need to create at least a dummy account) upgrade to the latest if you so desire from the App Store.

dolphins
Clean Up Our Oceans
Premium Member
join:2001-08-22
Westville, NJ

dolphins

Premium Member

OK thanks everyone.

This info makes me want to chuck this Windows machine in the trash. I tried dual booting Linux on this machine some time ago but it or I corrupted the MBR. That ordeal has kept me from trying it again. I don't know if it's worth keeping the Mac and upgrading some of the components?

From the specs in the link in my original post, is it upgradable or would I need to rebuild the whole system. What I need is something that can handle a workload, e.g. running Photoshop and Illustrator at the same time, create detailed vectors, 3D graphics, etc. I know I can add a lot more RAM and storage but I would like some more processing power and a faster more powerful GPU.

lordpuffer
Legalize It Joe!
Premium Member
join:2004-09-19
Old Town, ME
Nokia XS-110G-A
Linksys Velop MX5300

lordpuffer

Premium Member

FYI, I believe that you need a 16GB USB key to do a clean install of Yosemite if that is what you choose to install, for an 8GB USB key is too small:

»osxdaily.com/2014/10/16/ ··· l-drive/

dolphins
Clean Up Our Oceans
Premium Member
join:2001-08-22
Westville, NJ

2 edits

dolphins

Premium Member

I have a 500GB Seagate USB HDD, will that work? I plugged into my Windows machine and it asked to be formatted. So my guess is she never got to use it or it was formatted for the Mac?

Oh Duh! I would need to partition the portable drive first since I will be adding any personal data to it before I wipe the Mac Pro.

lordpuffer
Legalize It Joe!
Premium Member
join:2004-09-19
Old Town, ME

lordpuffer

Premium Member

That I don't know, and will have to let someone else answer it. I've always just used the USB key via osxdaily's directions.

dolphins
Clean Up Our Oceans
Premium Member
join:2001-08-22
Westville, NJ

dolphins

Premium Member

Yes, it can be used for this purpose according to some info I just read on the Web. My only problem would be formatting it into 2 partitions as I already mentioned in my edit above. I guess that can be done also since portable drives are same as internal drives.
daveinpoway
Premium Member
join:2006-07-03
Poway, CA

daveinpoway

Premium Member

The Disk Utility that is built into Mac OS X can perform formatting and partitioning. If you format the external drive as FAT or ExFAT, it will be useable on either a Windows PC or a Mac.

Be sure to eject the external drive before unplugging it from the Mac.

Strange that she never upgraded beyond Leopard.

dolphins
Clean Up Our Oceans
Premium Member
join:2001-08-22
Westville, NJ

dolphins

Premium Member

OK, I just fired it up. Switching between computers with a single monitor so it's a PIA.

Quick specs:

OS X 10.6.8
2 X 1 gigabit Ethernet cards but no WiFi
It has Bluetooth.

Can I use Bluetooth like an Ethernet card. I enabled it under 'Networks' but it just kept searching for Bluetooth devices. After a few minutes I just stopped it from querying since it did not find my router. My router is in my basement because of poor signal from my office which is technically located outside my concrete block home.

darcilicious
Cyber Librarian
Premium Member
join:2001-01-02
Forest Grove, OR

darcilicious

Premium Member

I don't think routers connect to computers via bluetooth...

Thinkdiff
MVM,
join:2001-08-07
Bronx, NY

Thinkdiff to dolphins

MVM,

to dolphins
If your PC has an unused ethernet port, you could use Windows Internet Sharing to get internet on the Mac.

»windows.microsoft.com/en ··· indows-7

Should be able to enable ICS on your PC and then the Mac should "just work" once you plug in the ethernet cable.
daveinpoway
Premium Member
join:2006-07-03
Poway, CA

daveinpoway to dolphins

Premium Member

to dolphins
According to the Mac Pro Wiki ( »en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Pro ), the early 2009 models came with an Airport (Apple's term for WiFi) Extreme card as shipped. Perhaps the card is defective in this computer or maybe you did not know what to look for.

I see that it was upgraded to Snow Leopard; this model will handle anything beyond that. Since you have SL installed, the computer can connect to the App Store to get downloads of the Mavericks (OS X 10.9) and Yosemite (OS X 10.10) installers. You will need to create an Apple ID (no charge for this) to be able to access the App Store.

dolphins
Clean Up Our Oceans
Premium Member
join:2001-08-22
Westville, NJ

3 edits

dolphins

Premium Member

said by Thinkdiff:

If your PC has an unused ethernet port, you could use Windows Internet Sharing to get internet on the Mac.

Only one Ethernet port on my PC and only one on my modem. Only way to plug-in is take it down the basement or run another line up to my office which is about 60' between router and desktop.
said by daveinpoway:

According to the Mac Pro Wiki ( »en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Pro ), the early 2009 models came with an Airport (Apple's term for WiFi) Extreme card as shipped. Perhaps the card is defective in this computer or maybe you did not know what to look for.

Yes, I saw Ethernet port-0 is called, AirPort. I also looked under "About this Mac" and it said no WiFi WWAN available only 2 wired ports.

I see that it was upgraded to Snow Leopard; this model will handle anything beyond that. Since you have SL installed, the computer can connect to the App Store to get downloads of the Mavericks (OS X 10.9) and Yosemite (OS X 10.10) installers. You will need to create an Apple ID (no charge for this) to be able to access the App Store.

Well at least that will make it somewhat easier. Thanks for the info.
dolphins

dolphins to daveinpoway

Premium Member

to daveinpoway
OK, it has AirPort but I don't see how to enable it as WiFi?

UGH! Not only do I have to switch VGA connectors from one machine to the other but I only have one USB mouse.
daveinpoway
Premium Member
join:2006-07-03
Poway, CA

daveinpoway

Premium Member

If you click onto the Apple symbol at the upper-left and then click on System Preferences, you can select "Network", which will give you all of the configuration settings for the wired and wireless networking.

If you had a KVM switch (even a cheap 2-port one), this would make life more simple for you. Since the Mac has Bluetooth, do you have a Bluetooth mouse available to you?

dolphins
Clean Up Our Oceans
Premium Member
join:2001-08-22
Westville, NJ

dolphins

Premium Member

No, just my USB mouse. There was a wireless mouse with a USB Bluetooth adapter that I found in a bag full of cabling but it doesn't work.

Yes, a KVM switch is on my Christmas list. I repair and clean a lot of relatives PC's and Laptops. It makes things difficult when they are not WiFi ready. This is my first experience with a Mac.

Switching over to Mac now to see if I can see what you're talking about?

"see if I can see"? Does that sound right? Frustration is overloading my circuits.
dolphins

dolphins to daveinpoway

Premium Member

to daveinpoway
OK, in Network Settings/AirPort automatic connection does not work. Tried manually setting the TCP/IP IPv4, Typed in router IP, Internet IP and Subnet Mask. It returns the following error

Cable is not plugged in or device at other end is not responding

Using the Assistant; "Choose the network port config for internet"

It shows,

Ethernet
External Modem
AirPort
Other

'External modem' and 'AirPort' are greyed out.

Thinkdiff
MVM,
join:2001-08-07
Bronx, NY

Thinkdiff

MVM,

said by dolphins:

OK, in Network Settings/AirPort automatic connection does not work. Tried manually setting the TCP/IP IPv4, Typed in router IP, Internet IP and Subnet Mask. It returns the following error

Cable is not plugged in or device at other end is not responding

Using the Assistant; "Choose the network port config for internet"

It shows,

Ethernet
External Modem
AirPort
Other

'External modem' and 'AirPort' are greyed out.

First, let's make sure you actually have a working Airport card installed:

Go to the Apple menu > About this Mac > click on More Info.

Go down to "Airport" or "WiFi", not "WWAN" (which is cellular). If you only see the following under Airport/WiFi, then you don't have an airport card installed (or it doesn't work):
quote:
Software Versions:
Menu Extra: 6.2.2 (622.2)
configd plug-in: 6.2.5 (625.6)
System Profiler: 6.0.1 (601.1)
Network Preference: 6.2.2 (622.2)
AirPort Utility: 5.6.1 (561.3)
IO80211 Family: 3.2 (320.1)
If you see more info, like below, then you have Airport installed:
quote:
Interfaces:
en1:
Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x14E4, 0xF5)
Firmware Version: Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (7.15.124.12.10)
MAC Address: 7c:d1:c3:95:xx:xx
Locale: FCC
Country Code: X0
Supported PHY Modes: 802.11 a/b/g/n

If you have Airport installed, then you should see an icon in the upper right part of the menu bar that looks like this: »static.squarespace.com/s ··· original

It may be grayed out but it'll look similar. Click on that to join a wireless network.

If you don't have a wireless card installed, you could use the Mac with your Modem and then do internet sharing to the PC as an alternative option.

dolphins
Clean Up Our Oceans
Premium Member
join:2001-08-22
Westville, NJ

dolphins

Premium Member

said by Thinkdiff:

First, let's make sure you actually have a working Airport card installed:

Go to the Apple menu > About this Mac > click on More Info.

Go down to "Airport" or "WiFi", not "WWAN" (which is cellular). If you only see the following under Airport/WiFi, then you don't have an airport card installed (or it doesn't work):

quote:
Software Versions:
Menu Extra: 6.2.2 (622.2)
configd plug-in: 6.2.5 (625.6)
System Profiler: 6.0.1 (601.1)
Network Preference: 6.2.2 (622.2)
AirPort Utility: 5.6.1 (561.3)
IO80211 Family: 3.2 (320.1)

That's what I see under AirPort.

If you don't have a wireless card installed, you could use the Mac with your Modem and then do internet sharing to the PC as an alternative option.

I would still need to have 2 Ethernet ports on my PC for that, correct? My cable modem also only has a single Ethernet port.

NeverYouMind
@74.75.218.x

NeverYouMind

Anon

I'm mentally challenged but why don't we just leave the PC out of it? Plug the cable modem into the Mac, update the Mac and then whatever... This, no?

dolphins
Clean Up Our Oceans
Premium Member
join:2001-08-22
Westville, NJ

dolphins

Premium Member

said by NeverYouMind :

I'm mentally challenged but why don't we just leave the PC out of it? Plug the cable modem into the Mac, update the Mac and then whatever... This, no?

That's what I will have to do short of running a new line. A few problems with that scenario though, 1. Ethernet cable is behind my filing cabinets, Printer, L-shaped office desk, etc. Which brings me to 2. Having only one machine connected to the internet at a time is a PIA since I'm much more familiar with Windows and may need it at some point during reinstall of OS X. 3. It's a PIA

I'm done with Apples and oranges for today, Goodnight.