If you need to sell your MacBook pro on eBay or anywhere else, you will want to make sure that everything on it has been wiped clean. Some people would not buy your computer if it isn’t like new. Also, erasing everything means keeping your personal information safe.
If you are looking to erase everything on your MacBook pro and restore it to the factory settings, here is what you can do.
Method 1: Erasing Everything on Mac
Let’s quickly get started with the process. Just make sure that your MacBook Pro is connected to the internet. Hard disk drives are the easiest to erase. You will have a clean slate once you have erased the hard disk completely. But, it is very likely that this isn’t all you want; you may also want to restore your MacBook to the factory settings with the OS installed again. The restoration process will not work if there is no internet. So, once again, make sure you are connected. It would also be a great idea to keep your Mac connected to the power throughout the process. This will ensure that you do not run out of battery in the middle of the restoration process.
- First of all, you will need to click the Apple menu. This menu has the Apple logo.
- From there, select the option labelled ‘Restart.’ This will, as you may have already figured, reboot your computer and initialize the startup process again. You will need to be very attentive while the Mac is rebooting. You don’t want the normal boot; you are looking for special reboot.
- There will be a very small window where a gray screen (slate like) will appear. This is the time when you will need to press and hold the CMD and R keys together.
- This is where you will see the Utility option for Mac operating system. This is the place where several system changes can be made. But, make sure that you don’t meddle with the things you aren’t aware of as they may cause some serious damages.
- From the new screen choose Disk Utility.
- From here on, the process may vary across different Macintosh operating systems. But, for all the operating systems, you will need to select something related to the start-up (usually startup disk).
- Select the appropriate option and then choose the tab labelled as Erase.
- You will now need to choose the Format button and make sure that it has been set to Mac OS Extended.
- To begin the deletion process, click on Erase again. Wait for a while for the process to complete.
- Once it is finished you can exit the Disk Utility.
Method 2: Erasing Everything on Mac with SafeWiper for Disk
Now that you have erased everything, you will want to reinstall the Mac OS. Your computer is a brick without the OS after all. To make it reusable again (with all your tracks removed), you will need to reinstall the OS with all the original, factory settings. Here you don’t need to reinstall the OS on your Mac, just try SafeWiper for Disk to wipe your Mac everything.
SafeWiper for Disk is the award-winning Mac Data Wiper software. It has the ability to securely erase data from Mac hard drive or storage media, making data recovery impossible.
Step 1. Selectively and permanently erase selected files or folders from Mac machine or storage media under Mac OS.
Step 2. Completely wipe entire Mac hard drive or storage device to destroy and erase all existing data, deleted/lost data and traces.
Verdict
Erasing everything on your MacBook Pro is easy. However, you not only need to clean the hard drive but also restore your Mac computer to the original factory settings. Therefore, you will also need to reinstall the MacOS. For newer versions, you can download the factory settings online; for older ones you need the installation disk.