Informed Webmaster

To make a long story short, I am attempting to dispose of a Macintosh that stopped working years ago. Before disposing of a computer, I do what I always do, and that is take the hard drive out, so personal information does not fall into the wrong hands. I have done this with several computers in the past without incident, and this sounds simple enough? Right? No, of course not, this is Apple. When I finally managed to take off the glass that protects the screen, I found that the thing is held together with atypical (Pentalobe) screws. The drivers I have are the wrong size. I decided to go through the screen, only to find out that the whole inner components are surrounded by thick metal that is virtually impossible to get through.

I think this was done intentionally to make opening it difficult. I have taken apart other types of computers before, even did a minor DIY repair on one, and I never tore my hair out like this. What do you guys think? I'm just trying to dispose of the damn thing, and Apple is nice enough to make even that more difficult than it has to be.

It just seems to be designed to keep me out, and I do not like that in a product.

That reminds me of 2 movies i saw about Steve Jobs, in one scene his co-workers ask if they should still use these special screws, and he says yes. In another scene they have a hardware issue on a Mac but don't have their special tools with them, that makes things difficult.

Mac is often is a bit more difficult to repair then it should be(in my opinion). I have, however repaired a fair share of Mac and other Apple devices through my life.

However, some of their computers are very good quality, so it's not all bad. I do prefer PC myself thou.

J. H. Rasmussen wrote: ↑Fri Jun 11, 2021 10:46 pmHowever, some of their computers are very good quality, so it's not all bad. I do prefer PC myself thou.

Same here. Sorry if I came off as hot headed. It's just irritating that something so simple is made so much harder when it doesn't need to be. I'm hardly a repairman or expert, but I'm not a total dunce either. It's amateur hour with this thing. Obviously I'm going to have to buy another screw driver to get the thing apart. I just feel like it's and unnecessary and anti-consumer.

Yes you'll most likely need to buy special tools for some Apple devices. Before Mac's became Intel based, they also did a lot to make sure PC hardware would not work with Macs, that is probably one the reasons Apple have survived this many years, since they could then charge more money for hardware than similar PC hardware.

I am not a Mac user but did you Google something like remove hard drive from old imac (You didn't say what year or model it is.

We had an old Windows laptop that we had a similar problem with.

Accrete wrote: ↑Fri Jun 11, 2021 11:41 pm I am not a Mac user but did you Google something like remove hard drive from old imac (You didn't say what year or model it is.

We had an old Windows laptop that we had a similar problem with.

Yes I did. Unfortunately, the tools I have are the wrong size. It doesn't matter now anyway, as I was just able to expose the hard disk using some sheers and I gave it a couple of good whacks with a mallet. That should have been enough to damage the hard disk and corrupt the data.

I think I can dispose of it now. I'm just irritated at Apple for setting it up that way if you know what I mean.