Wanting to clear down an old iMac to sell

[mark66]

Hi,

I have an old 20" iMac running Lion 10.7.5. Rather than just throw away I thought I'd put it on eBay for £10 and see if it goes. However I want to clear it down first.

The guides to clear down a Mac seem to be to erase the HD and then re-install OSX. However it seems the only way to do this will be for me to buy the Lion downloader for £20 from Apple, which while I can do, I was hoping to just put on Ebay and I may not even get £20 for it.

Is there another way to clear down this mac without purchasing 10.7.5?

Thanks

 

[Feek]

Have you tried holding down cmd-r as it boots to get into recovery mode and reinstalling OS X from there?

 

[mark66]

Hi,

Yes, so the guide was to do cmd-R on restart, erase HD and then re-install. But I don't have the media to do the install. If I click Install it asks for my Apple ID but then states that the OSX is no longer available to download.

Is there another way or a way to create the USB boot disk from within Lion?

Sorry, not particularly up on all of this!

 

[clv101]

What's the most recent OS it will run? I think Snow Leopard onwards can be downloaded fairly easily (via a 3rd party bit of software).

 

[Feek]

The mid 2007 20" iMac will run 10.11.6 (El Capitan) but the late 2006 will only go to Lion so I suspect it's that.

They did come with the OS supplied on disc but would have been shipped with Tiger and all the versions up to Mavericks had to be bought.

I bought them all.

@mark66 Give me a few minutes and I'll see if I can find mine. If I've still got it, you're welcome to it as I'll never use it.

 

[Feek]

@mark66 Yes, I've found it. I've sent you a Trust message.

 

[mark66]

Hi @Feek, many thanks, but I can't see a PM, should it show in Conversations?

I have found a Snow Leopard 10.6.3 disc, so I could try that and see if it will then upgrade to Lion?

The iMac is 20-inch, Mid 2007, with 2GB, which supposedly should go up to El-Capitan, however from having a read of this this link, it seems that the fact that the Mac says "No updates Available" suggests that it is completely out of support and won't. Therefore not sure if it is worth trying to go back to 10.6.3?

I simply want to clear the mac down - is a re-install of the OS really the only safe way?

Thanks

 

[Feek]

Hi @Feek, many thanks, but I can't see a PM, should it show in Conversations?

No, I've sent you an email via Trust.

I have found a Snow Leopard 10.6.3 disc, so I could try that and see if it will then upgrade to Lion?

It won't, it's a paid upgrade. But if you've got a Snow Leopard disc, just boot from that, re-partition the drive and start from scratch. Let the buyer worry about any other OS version.

however from having a read of this this link, it seems that the fact that the Mac says "No updates Available" suggests that it is completely out of support and won't.

I installed an older version of OS X on a Mac mini last year (can't remember exactly which version) and although it's well out of date, it was still offered the latest patches via Software Update. I honestly don't know whether you'll get the updates or not but again, let any buyer worry about that

I simply want to clear the mac down - is a re-install of the OS really the only safe way?

I wouldn't want to sell a computer that may have traces of anything on it to do with me. In theory, I suppose you can create a new user account, delete the existing user account and blat the contents of the old user home directory but if it were me, I'd much rather sell it with a fresh OS.

 

[mark66]

Ah ok, I've found the mail now.

I take on board all of the above and won't stress about getting it onto the latest version, just as long as all my data has been cleared, so I will try a fresh install using my Snow Leopard disc a go. If it doesn't work for any reason, I would like to take you up on your offer and give Lion a go.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[Feek]

Thanks again for the help.

You're welcome - If you need Lion the just reply to my email and I'll get you sorted out.

 

[Feek]

Out of interest, did you get it sorted, @mark66?