After macos installation is complete, the mac restarts to a welcome screen and asks you to choose a country or region. See troubleshooting for more information on which format to select. Some people are asking for a way to format a hard drive for mac. Select the hard drive you want to securely erase from the list of available drives in the left column. Give your beloved mac a good physical wipe down with some dry cloths, and wave it goodbye. Unless the new owner is right there already with you, you will probably want to power down the mac. How to wipe a mac and reset it to factory settings business insider. Essentially, this is a tool that apple created to help people create a copy of their computer that could be accessed at a later date. How to wipe a mac hard drive complete walkthrough whatsabyte. Some time back there was an ad for software that would erase hard disks with the method approved by the u. Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. This gives you several option for how to clear the drive and the option to name the drive after formatting, and the way you want to set it up for new data after the format. Moreover, you can define a time to erase and can even choose the erase algorithm for securely erasing of the selected file. Wipe hard drive and erase hard drive in windows and mac.
If youre selling or giving away a windows computer, youll want to wipe the hard drive to remove all of your personal data from it before handing it over to someone new. To wipe your mechanical drive, open disk utility, which youll find in applications utilities. But some mac users might need to erase them from the command line on mac os. Do this before you erase the hard drive or follow any other steps.
To do that, the only thing you need is a bit of precise syntax to make sure that you are erasing the proper disk. Whether its a hard drive in an older mac or an external hard drive, if it is accessible, you can use disk utility to securely erase it. Did you try erasing the apple hard drive via recovery mode. Completely all sensitive data from windows based storage system, including intern browsing data, system traces, file history, cookies, cache,etc. How to securely wipe or erase data from hard drive on your mac. You should note that bitraser file eraser mac permanently erases any file from a storage drive. Once in recovery mode, you can go to disk utility and erase the complete hard drive to a single partitioned drive.
Free mac file eraser software to permanently wipe files. Deleting everything does not wipe a hard drive and formatting does not usually wipe a hard drive. Launch disk utility applicationsutilities and when the application opens select the drive you want to erase in the pane on the left side of the disk utility window. Its the best hard drive cleaning utility for mac users comes preloaded on macos. How to force a hard drive to unmount for formatting in mac. Backing up your data regularly is a smart way to keep your data safe.
You can do this by holding down the power button or by going to the apple menu and selecting restart. Whatever your reason may be, there are lots of programs out there that can help you to not only erase the data on a hard drive, but erase it in such a way that it can never be recovered again. Hard disk erasing for macs office of information technology. How to erase your macs hard drive the right way macworld. There are few way you can erase hard drive both on windows and mac. How to securely erase a macs hard drive sound support. To wipe a hard drive means to completely erase the drive of all its information. In disk utilitys sidebar, which displays all the currently installed disks and volumes, select the drive you want to erase. You just need to select the hard drive you want to format, and then click on wipe now button. How to wipe a hard drive on your pc or mac digital trends. For mac users, the following steps show you how to wipe your hard drive clean. Whether youre getting rid of the computer or wiping your hard drive to fix an error, the best way to back up your mac is to use time machine. Hence, you will have to wipe the old data from hard drive, to make way for fresh installation.
I f you own an older mac computer, its easy to wipe the hard drive for sale. Once the erase process is over, the permanently removed files can never be recovered. Even though disk wipe for mac is not available for download, you can try. How to wipe hard drive from macbook, imac and mac pro. Paragon disk wiper 15 for mac os x free irreversible secure data. Here are two outstanding mac hard drive format software tools you can rely on. Whether you are trying to backup mac to an external hard drive, wipe out any personal information and sell the computer, or even use a new operating system, you need to format the hard drive on your mac or pc. From the sidebar in disk utility, select the disk or. Make sure you click the drive you want to securely delete. It makes impossible to get back files by making use of any recovery tools. Now use the erase free space option, which also offers 1, 3, and 7 passes of erase, and only empties out unused parts of the disk. Best data wiping software for macwindows 78xp wipe. Fastest will erase the drive by removing the header information, but will leave the underlying files intact, although they will be hidden.
This hard drive eraser tool supports both internal and. How to securely wipe or erase data from hard drive on your mac, this guide will tell you how to securely wipe a hard drive on your mac using disk utility. So to permanently wipe a mac clean without recovery, youd better try this mac wiping software, it has built many advanced wiping algorithm that can automatically wipe your hard drive or selected sensitive data. What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your mac apple. Press the power button and a dialog box will appear that allows you to shut down.
How to permanently wipe a mac clean to sell erase mac clean. How to erase a disk for mac how to erase a disk if youre erasing the disk that your mac started up from, start up from macos recovery. Macrorit data wiper is able to wipe mac hard drive with hfs plus file system clean, after wiped in data wiper, the hard drive can be used without worrying about leakage on old data. It permanently erases all data on hard disks, solid state drives, memory cards. Apple file system format or the older mac os extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you.
How to wipe a hard drive permanently erase everything. After you boot, launch disk utility, select the startup volume, and click the erase tab. Click the erase button at the top of the disk utility window. There are many third party software that you can use to erase hard drive data but nothing is as reliable as the os itself. If you want to leave the mac in an outofbox state, dont continue with the setup of your system. Be sure you have an uptodate backup of your important files. How to force a hard drive to unmount for formatting in mac os x disk utility gemsbok apple tips and tricks.
Here are instructions on how to use disk utility to securely erase a hard drive connected internally or externally to your mac. First, erase a drive without the overwriting part, and reinstall os x. Reader jim bradley seeks a way to securely wipe the data from his hard drive. Clone or back up your mac hard drive or sync with icloud. This mode wipe hard drive will help you format a selected hard drive device and erase all data from it. With one of the above methods, you should be able to get the job done quickly.
Even though all new macs these days come with flash storage which ill cover later, there are still. How to fix mac osx hard drive formatting issue 2018 duration. After you boot, launch disk utility, select the startup volume, and click the erase. The best way to restore your mac to factory settings is to erase your hard drive and reinstall macos. Most users use disk utility to erase a disk or hard drive. How to securely erase your mac hard drive before selling. Mac pro family and erase all attached disks except the system disk with one. Connect the drive you want to securely delete, then click it in the sidebar. If you have a lot of sensitive information, perform a secure wipe of your hard drive is highly recommended. Wiping your mac will erase everything, including your operating. Free download super eraser to permanently erase hard drive data, erase mac data, or erase data on storage media. To wipe your hard drive, click the erase button then click erase. How to wipe a hard drive in windows 10 and macos techradar.
Freeware version installation package dmg includes executable, being able to run on imac, macbook. The process is very similar on older versions of mac os x, but the screens will look a. Resetting a mac to factory settings gets rid of all the data stored on that machine, so you may want to make a backup of the data first. After you erase your hard drive it will be ready for a clean. Wipe mac hard drive without disc and reinstall mac os. If your mac is using apfs, select apfs from the format list. Fortunately, there are some mac hard drive format software or smart disk formatting applications can help you securely and easily format, reformat, or erase hard drive under mac os.
Be sure you have an uptodate backup of your important files and data. Wiping an external hard drive on mac is an easy task. It also can format ssd hard drive and erase data under mac os. How to wipe a hard drive on your pc or mac by jon martindale march 31, 2020 from personal photos to sensitive work information, our computers host a. How to securely erase data from your mac and external drives. But for newer models, including imac pro, 2018 mac mini, and all macbook pro and macbook air models released since 2018, a full reset process is required. Note that this permanently erases all data on the hard drive so dont. What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your mac. Before you wipe your computers hard drive or do a factory reset, make sure to back up all of your information to your new computer, an external hard drive, or a web service. Then super eraser for mac will help you format and erase the selected hard drive device. Hard drive format software for mac mac disk format software. This wikihow teaches you how to delete all the data, files, applications, and settings on your mac computer. Open disk utility via your applications utilities folder.
694 1404 1409 372 962 631 1601 975 487 712 1544 109 414 341 1469 1328 1554 465 495 1014 444 924 1522 543 244 510 897 1152 192 560 180 697 943 1620 638 1234 960 353 494 1033 1127 1070 143