How To Erase My Mac

1. How To Erase My Macbook Air Before Selling
2. Restore Mac To Factory Settings

Step 7: Erase Mac hard drive. If you plan to sell or give away your Mac, you need to erase your Mac's startup disk. The startup disk is built-into your MacBook. Its default name is Macintosh HD. With the release of macOS Catalina, Apple has added the read-only volume. Below, we explain how to completely factory reset your MacBook (or iMac) and reset it to a like-new state.The instructions below (with a few minor changes here or there) will work for macOS. Click the Erase button at the top of the Disk Utility window. If your Mac is using HFS+, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the format list. If your Mac is using APFS, select APFS from the format list. See Troubleshooting for more information on which format to select. Click the Erase button inside Disk Utility Select the Format pop-up window and choose Mac OS Extended Give your reformatted disk a name and click Erase to confirm your erasure You'll now see a display begin to erase your MacBook Air's drive and data.

Need to restore Mac to factory settings?

If you decide to sell or give away your Mac, you'll need to wipe your data in order to set up your Mac like a new one. Not only is it essential for your privacy, but it is also the right way to prepare your MacBook for another owner. Resetting Mac to factory settings includes several steps. Here's the brief outline of them:

• Data backup
• Deauthorizing iTunes on macOS Mojave or earlier
• Signing out iCloud and iMessage
• Erasing Touch Bar data
• Erasing Mac hard drive in Recovery Mode
• Reinstalling macOS

Continue reading to learn the steps to factory reset MacBook Pro or any other Mac computer just as of it was new.

Note: This guide is relevant to Mac Pro, iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air.

The ultimate checklist to factory reset MacBook Pro

Step 1. Back up your data

When you factory reset MacBook Pro, all the information you have on your hard drive is wiped off. That's why you need to create a backup to save your important files and data. This is like cloning your hard drive and keeping it for some time.

You can manually back up all your files and apps by copying everything to an external drive or iCloud. However, the faster and more secure way to back up your Mac is Time Machine — Mac's built-in software. It allows to recover individual files and restore your whole hard drive in the event of a catastrophe.

However, before you use Time Machine, make sure to clean up your Mac. You don't want to back up all the junk it contains, do you? Plus, a backup will go faster and more smoothly if your Mac is not cluttered. For a quick cleanup, you can use a utility like CleanMyMac X. It will help you remove large and old files, useless apps, caches, and system junk in two clicks.

Here's how to clean GBs of junk in under 5 minutes:

1. Download CleanMyMac X and launch it.
2. Click Scan.
3. Click Run.

Once you've cleaned up your Mac, enable Time Machine backups:

1. Go to the Apple menu in the top left corner of your screen and choose System Preferences.
2. Select Time Machine.
3. Click the Select Backup Disk button.
4. Choose the disk you'd like to use as a Time Machine backup, then click Use Disk.
5. Check the Back Up Automatically box in order to back up your Mac to the chosen disk automatically.

That's it!

Note that your first backup may take a long time, depending on how many files you have. But don't skip this step — the backup will allow you to restore all your data should something goes wrong when you factory reset Mac.

Once your files are backed up, next be sure to disable any services that are associated with your system, including iTunes, iCloud, and iMessage, and deactivate programs on your Mac. Just take your time to sign out of everything to avoid those 'after the sale' calls from a new user.

Step 2. Deauthorize iTunes

Note: As you may know, iTunes has been replaced by Music, Podcasts, Books and Apple TV on macOS Catalina. You can only deauthorize iTunes if your Mac is running macOS Mojave or earlier.

Did you know, you can authorize up to 5 computers, which means that you can play your content just on 5 different Macs? That's why you need to make sure your computer is not linked to your iTunes account when it gets a new owner. Don't save this step for later.

Here's how to sign out of iTunes:

1. Open iTunes on your Mac.
2. Click Account in the menu bar.
3. Choose Authorizations > Deauthorize This Computer.
4. Provide your Apple ID and password.
5. Click Deauthorize.

Tip

If your Mac is running macOS Catalina, you can deauthorize Music and Apple TV as well following the instructions above. To deauthorize Books, open it and click Store. Choose Authorisations to deauthorize.

Do you need to turn off FileVault to do a factory reset?

Some sources on the Internet recommend turning off FileVault before doing a factory reset. FileVault encrypts your data and prevents unauthorized access to the information on your startup disk. So, even if you are going to sell your Mac, the purchaser won't be able to access your data as they'd need your password to decrypt it. Complete factory reset covers erasing your startup disk (described in Step 7), which will make the recovery of your data impossible. Therefore, there is no need to turn off FileVault, as your data can't be accessible in any readable form after you erase the drive.

Step 3. Disable iCloud

Sign out of iCloud to make sure that any remnants of the cloud data, such as bookmarks, notes, reminders, etc., are not visible to a new user.

Follow these steps to turn off iCloud:

1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences.
2. Select iCloud.
3. Click Sign Out.
4. Confirm that you want to remove data from your Mac.

Step 4. Sign out of iMessage

Before you restore Mac to factory settings, be sure to sign out of iMessage. Here's how to do that:

How To Erase My Macbook Air Before Selling

1. Open up Messages.
2. Click Messages in the Menu bar in the top left corner of your screen.
3. From the drop-down menu, choose Preferences.
4. Select your iMessage account.
5. Click on the Sign Out button.

As simple as that!

Step 5. Erase Touch Bar Data

To ensure that all information is cleared from the Touch Bar, you need to erase its data. Follow these steps:

1. Hold down the Command+R keys after pressing the power button to turn on your Mac or right after your Mac begins to restart.
2. Choose Utilities > Terminal from the macOS Utilities window.
3. Type this command in Terminal: xartutil --erase-all
4. Press Return, type yes when asked if you are sure, and press Return again.
5. Choose Terminal > Quit Terminal.

Step 6: Restart Your Mac in Recovery Mode

Once you've backed up your data and signed out of everything, you are ready to wipe your Mac and give it a fresh start with a new owner. The following steps will tell you how to restore Mac to factory settings. This is pretty simple. Go to the Apple menu in the top left corner of your screen and choose Restart. As the system restarts, hold the combination of Command and R keys together — you'll notice the Recovery Mode window.

Step 7: Erase Mac hard drive

If you plan to sell or give away your Mac, you need to erase your Mac's startup disk. The startup disk is built-into your MacBook. Its default name is Macintosh HD.

With the release of macOS Catalina, Apple has added the read-only volume. It means that the new macOS is running a separate system volume to keep critical system files more protected. That's why apart from central Macintosh HD volume, there is Macintosh HD - Data volume, which contains all your data. So, if you want to remove every piece of personal information from your Mac, you need to erase both Macintosh HD and Macintosh HD - Data volumes.

1. Choose Disk Utility in the Utilities window.
2. Click the Continue button.
3. Your startup disk is the disk named 'Macintosh HD' unless you renamed it before.
4. If you have 'Data' volume in the sidebar, which contains the name of your startup disk (for example, Macintosh HD - Data), select it. Click Edit and select Delete APFS volume from the menu bar. Press the Delete button (don't click Delete Volume Group).
5. Now select Macintosh HD from the sidebar.
6. Click Erase at the top of the Disk Utility window.
7. Enter the name of this volume and choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format from the drop-down menu.
8. Click Erase. You may need to enter your Apple ID for confirmation.

When the process is complete, go the Disk Utility menu in the top left corner of your screen and select Quit Disk Utility.

Step 8: Reinstall your operating system

Congratulations, you've reformatted your hard drive and now you can reinstall a clean Mac operating system. Simply click Reinstall macOS or Reinstall OS X from the Utilities menu. Confirm that you really want to do it and follow the instructions you'll see on the screen.

However, if you are not going to keep your Mac, it would be better to quit the process and let the new owner enter all necessary information. Simply hold down the Command and Q keys and then choose Shut Down to turn the Mac off but leave it waiting for a new user.

That's all. Now your Mac is clean and ready for a fresh start.

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In this digital age, we all are pretty much acquainted with the storage media forms. From online/cloud storage to portable devices, we depend on all. However there are many reasons why you would want to erase the hard disk drive on MacBook Pro. If you don't properly delete the data, that data can be stolen. Once the data gets stolen you will regret it. The stolen data can be your personal pictures, videos, bank details etc. Sensitive data can be used for personal benefits. You would not even dare to imagine these things happening to you, so it's better not to take risk like this. Regardless of your reasons, make sure that you backup the data before wiping the drive clean.

Here are some of the ways to erase everything on MacBook pro hard drive.

Method 1: Format Your Hard Drive on MacBook Pro

Let's say you wish to erase only a particular partition volume instead of the entire hard disk. This is the simplest way to erase the hard disk on your MacBook Pro. Here is how you can do that.

1) Access Finder menu by clicking on the Dock icon. You can also access it through Spotlight.

2) On the left click Applications, scroll down a bit to the Utilities. You will need to double click on it.

3) Once the folder opens you will the Disk Utility application. Again, you will need to double click it to launch it.

4) Choose the hard disk drive you wish to erase. The drive names will appear in the left sidebar.

5) Click the Erase tab as shown in the image above.

6) In the erase tab you will see the Format section. Next to this option is the dropdown from where you can choose how you wish to format the drive. For instance, if you wish to use the drive only for one of the Mac OS versions, select Mac OS Extended. If you wish to install the Windows OS on the hard drive, then choose MS-DOS (FAT).

7) You can also give the name to the partition in the Name text box (under Format option).

8) Once you have chosen the Format type and given the name to the partition, click on 'Erase...' button.

NOTE: Remember that this method can only be used to erase the hard disk drive which does not have the Mac OS installed on it. This method uses the utilities which can be run only on the Mac OS. If you need to remove the hard drive with OS files, you can use Method 2.

Method 2: Erase Everything on MacBook Pro with Data Wiper (Recommend)

The problem with the Method 1 we discussed above is that once the data has been erased it can still be recovered. The next owner can use some free or professional data recovery software to retrieve your already deleted or formatted data that may still be on your hard drive somewhere. We need to protect our data and personal information. Especially if you are giving the MacBook Pro to someone else, you will need to make sure that your information remains safe.

This is where Safewiepr Eraser for Mac comes into picture. This application not only erases the hard drive but also makes sure that it becomes unrecoverable.

Safewiper Data Wiper for Mac

• The program includes powerful as well as fast wiping algorithms that can permanently erase everything from hard drive . Completely destroy and erase all existing data, deleted/lost data and traces on MacBook Pro
• Wipe your MacBook hard drive and files/folder data with advanced algorithm which overwrites data with 7 times.
• Wipe exactly what you need - hard disks, separate partitions or free space
• Compatible with macOS Sierra and OS X 10.11 El Capitan, 10.10, 10.9, 10.8, 10.7, 10.6

First of all, you need to download and install the program on your MacBook Pro, then launch the program. The while installation process is very easy.

In the last update, you may have noticed that the program provides three wiping options, 'Erase File/Fodlers' and ' Wipe Drive' and 'Wipe Unused Space' . Here, to completely destroying your all data on MacBook hard drive, just select the second wiping option.and click on 'Next' option.

Before starting to wipe your MacBook pro, a window pops up asking you to choose a 'wiping method', it offers 4 wiping algorithm. 7 wipe and 35 wipe will take much time to erase your MacBook Pro. So, we recommend you select 3 wipe.

Restore Mac To Factory Settings

Upon confirming your Wiping Mode, click the Start wiping button to being wiping your MacBook Pro. After the wiping process is complete, an intimating message will be displayed.

If you need to erase everything on MacBook Pro, only formatting the hard drives separately is not a good choice. It is best to use the Data Wiper to wipe clean everything. This way the data will be rendered unrecoverable and your personal information will remain safe. You can reinstall the OS afterwards.

After wiping your MacBook Pro hard drive, you will get a totally new MacBook without any personal information in it. The software will destroy, shred your data and overwrite the disk space of the data for many times. After the process finished, the data in your hard drive will be lost permanently without recovery, you will get a totally new MacBook without any personal information in it.