I am trying to erase an old MAC HD using Linux. The MAC is an old PPC 8100. The machine must be surplused but it cannot have any of the data intact when it leaves. I have tried downloading Yellow Dog Linux and Source Mage in order to put Linux on the MAC and format the HD. Unfortunately, the MAC cannot boot to CD. Yellow Dog seems to only have a 2.6 kernel availabe (no booting frrm floppy there), and Source Mage's 2.4.24 is 2.9 MB. I was wondering if anyone knows of any alternative routes I may take to erase the MAC's HD?

Just thought I would mention that I do not have the original MAC OS disks or any of the original software.

Thanks in advance.

Use dd to wipe the drive..

dd if=/dev/random of=/dev/<drive>

man dd for more options..

How do I use 'dd' in the MAC OS? I didn't think there was a command line that I could use. I haven't been able to get any Linux distros on the MAC yet...

So why are you asking MAC OS questions in a Linux forum then? I assumed you wanted to wipe it under Linux. Moving to General where this question is more suitable, not in our Linux - General forum..

I was asking here because I was wondering how to get Linux onto the MAC in order to wipe the drive....or if perhaps there was an alternative route I could take (boot able floppy distro etc...). I am sorry for any confusion. Thanks for the move.

If you have a large magnet or an electric tape eraser, that should do the trick. A better idea: go to the HD manufacturer's site and look for a bootable floppy image. I've downloaded several for the PC. They have tools for erasing or performing a low-level format.

I personally use DBAN ( http://dban.sourceforge.net/ ) for wiping PC hard drives - it's a bootable micro Linux floppy that does drive wiping and nothing else. its web site says there is a Mac PPC version available.

Or find tom's root and boot disk. It should include dd, and fits on a floppy, as I recall.