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I am going to sell my old Macbook Pro online and there are some sensitive data on the computer. I want to completely erase the Mac that no one can access the content with some data recovery software. How can I do that?
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August's answer is OK. But I would boot it Target Mode or from and external source. Then access the drive with Disk Utilities and use the "write zeros" option and reformat the drive.
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Then be a nice guy and re-install the OS.
i didn't have the installation disk.
You should be able to download from the Apps Store a copy of the OS installer. Copy it over to your external bootable drive you'll be using to boot up from to wipe your internal drive. Then after the drive is clean launch it, install the OS, but stop when it asks for your user information.
After you have zeroed out the disk, boot it holding down the option key to do an internet system reinstall directly from Apple. You will need an internet connection, wi-fi or ethernet. Ethernet is usually faster.
And depending on the age of the system, have the newest firmware level so it can do an internet recovery otherwise it will need to use the recovery partition on the drive or an external boot drive as the source of the needed files.
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Use the Disk Utility Application in recovery mode.
Use the Erase tool and choose the highest security setting possible.
Then reinstall OS X.
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...There appears not to be a way to change the security level in the erase tool, any chance of explaining how to find that, map A1278 with o/e el cap. TIA,
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A single wipe is not secure enough to wipe your mac completely. You can use third-party apps to delete all files on your mac and use disk utility to format the drive. If you turn on Find My Mac on your computer, you can use iCloud to erase data on the Mac.
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The write zeros option in Disk Utilities can run once or seven times.
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2 Comments
If the data is that sensitive and you want to make sure its never recovered remove the drive. even drives that have been zeroed can be recovered . industry standards state to zero a drive 7 or more times to insure no recovery
by Jimfixer
thank u for the suggestion
by oilyardm