How To Clean Mac Before Apple Servic

Is it time to sell or requite away your old Mac? Or practise you just desire a fresh starting time to make clean upwardly your motorcar? Here's how to securely delete all of your files, then install a fresh version of macOS.

If you're selling or giving abroad your estimator, this is the only manner to make certain whoever ends up with your Mac can't access to your files, and won't take to deal with whatsoever modifications yous've fabricated to macOS over the years. Don't just delete your user profile and call information technology a day—you'll want to completely wipe it.

Before you first, make certain you lot transfer any files you want to keep to a new computer or external bulldoze. Fifty-fifty if you lot don't intend on wiping your drive, it's a practiced idea to back up earlier reinstalling your operating system.

Stride One: Boot From Recovery Manner, or an Installer

Your Mac'due south Recovery Mode is a treasure trove of useful tools, and it'southward the easiest way to wipe your computer and offset from scratch. Shut down your Mac, turn it on while holding down Command+R. Your Mac will boot into the recovery partition.

If you're using an older Mac (from 2022 or earlier), there's a chance that you can't use Recovery Style. On those devices, hold "Option" while turning your computer on, then select the recovery partition instead.

If neither of these options piece of work, don't panic! You've got a couple of options yet. You can admission recovery without a sectionalization using Network Recovery: agree Command+Shift+R while turning on your Mac and it volition download the Recovery features for you lot. Failing that, you can create a bootable USB installer for macOS Sierra, and kicking from that by holding "Pick" while turning on your Mac.

Once you've managed to open up upwards the Recovery Fashion in some manner, we tin move on to wiping your drive securely.

RELATED: eight Mac System Features Yous Can Access in Recovery Style

Step Ii: Deeply Wipe Your Hard Drive (Optional)

If y'all want to re-install your operating system, but exit your files in identify, yous can skip this stride. Your user accounts and files will stay exactly where they are—only your operating system will be overwritten. Nosotros recommend backing up files earlier you exercise this, just in case, merely otherwise you're set up for step three.

If you want a truly clean installation, however, y'all need to beginning wipe your difficult drive. Nosotros've shown you how to securely wipe a hard drive with your Mac, and doing so in Recovery Fashion isn't really different from doing so within macOS.

To get started, click the Disk Utility option.

Depending on how yous started Recovery Fashion, you may be presented with the option to start Deejay Utility right away, as seen above. If not you tin can find Disk Utility in the menu bar: click Utilities then Disk Utility.

You lot'll now see your list of hard drives. Click your primary drive, then click "Erase"

If you're wiping a mechanical drive, click "Security Options" in the window that pops up. (If your Mac has a solid country drive, you can skip this part: your SSD will already securely erase files thank you to TRIM. You notwithstanding need to wipe the drive, still, or your files will remain in place, and so skip to the finish of this footstep to do so.)

Now move the dial up, to randomly write data over your entire bulldoze. You only need to write over a drive once to securely wipe it, simply if y'all're paranoid you lot can also wipe it three or 5 times.

Click "OK" once you've decided, only remember: if your Mac has a solid state drive, you lot do not need to apply these options. Merely requite your drive a proper name (I recommend "Macintosh Hard disk", simply for consistency's sake), then click "Erase" to start the overwriting process.

If you opted to wipe your drive securely, this might have a while—xxx minutes to an hr is not unreasonable for one pass. If yous cull iii or five passes, you might want to leave this running overnight.

Stride Iii: Reinstall macOS

With your information wipe complete, you are at present ready to reinstall macOS. If you booted from a functioning recovery partition, click the "Reinstall macOS" button. The installation procedure volition brainstorm.

If you booted from a USB deejay, click "Go along" to advance to the installer.

You lot'll be asked which hard drive you desire to install to. Choose the Macintosh Hard disk y'all named earlier.

Just like that, macOS will begin installing.

This might take a while. Eventually, your Mac will restart and ask you to create an business relationship. If y'all're giving your Mac away or selling it, we recommend that you merely close down at this point and permit whoever yous're giving your Mac to create their own account. Afterwards all, it'due south theirs now. Otherwise, enjoy your now-fresh Mac!