The only way to do THAT, is to boot to an external drive, which could be a USB OS X installer flash drive, with a OS X system that will boot your old iMac. When booted to that external drive, then erasing your internal drive will remove everything, including the recovery system.
Also the question is, how do I wipe my iMac early 2008?
- Start up from OS X Internet Recovery by holding down Option-Command-R immediately after turning on or restarting your Mac.
- Open Disk Utility from the OS X Utilities window, then use Disk Utility to erase your built-in hard disk using the OS X Extended (Journaled) format.
Furthermore, how do I factory reset my 2008 iMac without CD? Select the hard drive on which Mac OS X is installed from the tree list on the left side of the window. Open the “Erase” tab. Select “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” from the “Format:” drop menu and enter a name for the hard drive in the “Name:” text entry field. Click “Erase…” to clear all of the hard drive’s contents.
You asked, how do I wipe an old iMac clean? Shut down your Mac, then turn it on and immediately press and hold these four keys together: Option, Command, P, and R. Release the keys after about 20 seconds. This clears user settings from memory and restores certain security features that might have been altered.
Frequent question, how do I factory reset my 2008 iMac keyboard?
- Start you Mac while pressing the Option key (in your Windows keyboard press the Alt key) until the Startup Manager appears:
- Select Recovery HD and then click the upward-pointing arrow below it to boot from Recovery HD.
- After a brief delay, you’ll see the Mac OS X Utilities screen.
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How do I restore my 2009 iMac to factory settings?
- Shutdown iMac.
- Unplug power cord from back of iMac.
- Press and hold power button for 20 seconds.
- Restore power cord; power on iMac.
- Immediately on hearing Startup Chime, press and hold Command-Option-P-R keys (⌘⌥ P R)
How do you reset your iMac to factory settings?
- Restart Your Mac. First, restart your computer.
- Open in Recovery Mode. Once the computer turns off, hold Command + R until the Apple logo appears.
- Erase Your Data.
- Reinstall MacOS.
- Restore From Backup.
- What’s New in macOS Big Sur.
How do I wipe my Mac without recovery mode?
- Select ‘Disk Utility. ‘
- Select the volume that you want to erase.
- Click ‘Erase. ‘
- Disk Utility will now wipe your hard drive.
How do I factory reset my iMac 2011?
Restart your iMac by clicking the Apple menu, then select Restart…. Click the Restart button when the dialog box appears. After the iMac shuts down completely but before it begins to restart, hold down the Command (⌘) and R keys at the same time.
How do you clear everything off a Mac?
What can I do with my old iMac?
- When is your Mac “too old”?
- Recycle your old Mac with the Apple Trade In program.
- Clean your Mac and get it up to speed.
- Turn your Mac into a network-attached storage system.
- Create an emergency Wi-Fi hotspot.
- Install Linux on your Mac.
- Back up your Mac.
- Deauthorize and sign out of your accounts.
How do I factory reset my Mac desktop without Apple keyboard?
Reboot your Mac. Hold down Option/Alt-Command-R or Shift-Option/Alt-Command-R to force your Mac to boot into macOS Recovery Mode over the internet. This should boot the Mac into Recovery Mode.
How do I factory reset my iMac without password?
First you’ll need to turn off your iMac. Then press the power button and immediately hold down the Control and R keys until you see the Apple logo or spinning globe icon. Release the keys and shortly afterward you should see the macOS Utilities window appear.
How do you restore Internet on a Mac?
- Shut down your Mac.
- Hold down Command-Option/Alt-R and press the Power button.
- Hold down those keys until you a spinning globe and the message “Starting Internet Recovery.
- The message will be replaced with a progress bar.
- Wait for the MacOS Utilities screen to appear.
Can a 2008 iMac be upgraded?
You’ll be able to upgrade to El Capitan but not any further (unless you use an OS patcher, but then you’ll lose support for WiFi and/or Bluetooth). Upgrading the CPU is a bit harder, but it’s feasible if you’re a bit skilled. The instructions for the early 2008 iMac can be found on iFixit.
Can I replace iMac hard drive with SSD?
For the 27-Inch “2020” iMac models, OWC determined that the SSD in these models, by default, is soldered onboard and not upgradeable. … To reiterate, Apple does not support individuals upgrading the hard drive or SSD in these models.