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I have an old MacBook running OS 10.6.8 which I want to recycle, but its internal SuperDrive doesn't work, so I can't use the install disk to do it. I tried plugging in Apple's external USB SuperDrive which I bought when I upgraded to a MacBook Pro which has no internal SuperDrive, but the external SuperDrive doesn't accept the disc; it's as if the old MacBook doesn't recognize the external drive. I'm thus at a loss as to how to proceed to wipe the hard disk.

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  • Maybe asking a second question to analyze/solve the issue with the external drive would help as well
    – nohillside ♦
    Commented Jul 13, 2014 at 18:00
  • By Apple's design, their external super drive will only work with Apple computers which did not ship with a built-in drive. A third-party USB drive should generally work with no problems.
    – Kent
    Commented Jul 13, 2014 at 19:22

3 Answers 3

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You should try to create a bootable USB stick with some kind of recovery LiveCD (Ubuntu, BackTrack, ...)

I recommend using Ubuntu because it is the easiest to create.

There is a little tutorial on Ubuntu's website: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-mac-osx
(If you Have trouble be sure to ask a question on AskUbuntu)

After you have a recovery usb wipe the disk using your favorite tool. I found a nice tutorial on 'How to geek', but it's a bit outdated. (Tip: download wipe from the software center, not from synaptic)

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  • Please add some information as this alone is not an answer.
    – killswitch
    Commented Jul 13, 2014 at 19:30
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If your MacBook is capable of upgrading to 10.7 or newer (the current 10.9, OS X Mavericks is available for free from the AppStore, 10.7 - Lion and 10.8 - Mountain Lion are for sale on DVD at the apple online store for under €20,-) you can use the disk utility from the recovery partition (after installing a newer version of OS X, in this case from a bootable USB Drive) by holding cmd + r during boot.

Else, if you are not afraid to open the MacBook you can also remove the drive, put it in an external enclosure and format it with another machine.

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I suggest you borrow or purchase an inexpensive external DVD drive to see if you can boot from the install disc. This Sanyo drive is only $28US and works just fine read/write on all the Macs I've attached it to, old and new. I can't guarantee you will be able to boot from it, as I've never tried that, but if it won't boot your laptop you can always send it back for a refund.

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