# restore Power Mac G4



## hcheng221 (Aug 19, 2008)

I got a Power Mac G4 from my friend. I want restore OS and the software to the factory settings. Can anyone tell me how? Thanks in advance.


----------



## ElDiabloConCaca (Aug 19, 2008)

Pop in the Mac OS X Install CD/DVD that your friend gave you with the computer, boot from the CD by holding down the 'c' key as the computer starts up, and follow the on-screen prompts to do an "Erase and Install."


----------



## hcheng221 (Aug 19, 2008)

Thanks your Idea. Unfortunately, I don't have the Mac OS X Install CD/DVD, but I the  a CD that has " Power Mac G4 Software Restore" labeled. I guess I am out of luck.


----------



## ElDiabloConCaca (Aug 19, 2008)

Then use the "PowerMac G4 Software Restore" CD in place of the "Mac OS X Install CD/DVD" I mentioned in the last post.


----------



## Giaguara (Aug 19, 2008)

The restore disc is the one you need. Always make sure to get all discs that came with the Mac when you buy one second hand.
I'm moving this thread to software since howto & FAQ is for posting tutorials, not for questions. Oh and of course before doing the restore, make sure you have saved anything you would want to save from that Mac somewhere else


----------



## ninjawelder (Jun 28, 2012)

is there any way to wipe the computer without the cd


----------



## DeltaMac (Jun 28, 2012)

Yes
If you are running Lion (OS X 10.7), you can boot to the Lion Recovery partition, run Disk Utility, and erase the hard drive.
Older OS X systems - I think you could, in theory, do that in Single-user mode.

If you are erasing the hard drive, then passing on to someone else - how are they going to use the Mac if there's no operating system installed? 
The good method is to connect to another Mac, using a firewire cable, then boot this Mac in Target Drive mode (restart while holding the letter T, until you see the floating firewire icon) - then your Mac should appear on the desktop of your OTHER Mac, so run Disk Utility, and erase away, if that's what you want to do.
The question remains, however. What do you do if you want to have an operating system on your old Mac? You'll need an installer for that... or, you could restore from another Mac, or restoring from another hard drive is possible, too.
Final question (really the first question) - What's your goal with erasing the hard drive? Do you just want to leave it usable, but with your own info completely gone? Or - what else?


----------



## ninjawelder (Jun 28, 2012)

Basically I want to wipe all user data.....I let someone use it and they did something to it that messed it up pretty bad and now its basically useless and I can't change whatever they did cause there profile is locked....


----------



## DeltaMac (Jun 28, 2012)

How do you know that the system itself is not also compromised?
And the answer is - - you don't!
What version of OS X are you using on your Mac?

Finally - something for you to think about....
What are you going to do if you find out that you really need to reinstall OS X?
and a related question - Where is your OS X restore, or installer DVD?


----------

