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About to sell my Retina MBP. What is the most secure way to wipe it?
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Put some dynamite on it and blow it up? 
Seriously though a full reformat should do the job no?
Seriously though a full reformat should do the job no?
Put some dynamite on it and blow it up?
Seriously though a full reformat should do the job no?
Ha! Given the increased focus on data privacy these days, I was wondering if there were a more secure way (to prevent recovery, etc.)? I've had this computer for over 4 years... so at this point I imagine all of my personal information has been on it...
You can do a secure erase in Disk Utility.
Otherwise, follow these instructions,
https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201065
Otherwise, follow these instructions,
https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201065
Do you have FileVault enabled? If so, just restore it. The contents of the volume are encrypted and without your password it can't be decrypted and accessed.
Yup, above is the best method as generally ssds don't work too well with secure erase, 7 pass and 35 pass. Encrypt the entire drive and then go into startup and use disk utility to reformat it (Thus making sure that the drive stays encrypted). They would need your password to access anything erased on the drive.
Make sure you have everything you want to save off the drive at this point.
Make sure you have everything you want to save off the drive at this point.
I beg your pardon but both proprietary FileVault AND probable unreliable implementation of Secure ATA erase command are somewhat bad however Secure ATA erase is at least standardized and Apple (or better say both Samsung and Toshiba) should've intentionally implemented it wrong in order for it not to work as advertised.
Oops! I think you've accidentally encrypted your answer, whats the passphrase? ;-)
Secure ATA erase (standardized but could be implemented wrong) > FileVault (proprietary) but better to use both.
- ATA Secure Erase isn't implemented in Disk Utility at all. It still only has the old type of secure erase for magnetic media which doesn't work on SSDs and for good reason isn't even available in Disk Utility for SSDs.
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That's why I gave a link to Linux howto. Grab a 2GB USB, dd Fedora ISO on it and follow the instructions in wiki.
- Yes, that's an option. I think people just aren't completely on the same page. Zellio meant that the traditional Disk Utility security options won't work, not that your method using ATA Secure Erase wouldn't work.
The most secure way is to replace the SSD with a clean one and keep the one with your data in it.
Secure - yes but from security vs being reasonable perspective this is risky - SSDs have limited life time and you better migrate your data (if it's valuable of course) to a new SSD at least every 3 years IMHO.
- Goods SSDs will most likely outlast any hard drive when used in a laptop. SSD longevity is a complete non-issue for regular users. There's no need to treat it as a consumable part to be replaced every few years.
But a good backup should of course be kept - as always.
Ask Hillary (joke) I would used the Utility and format the dive in the most secure mode they have may take 16 hours then load the OSPut some dynamite on it and blow it up?
Seriously though a full reformat should do the job no?
- Disk Utility security options are designed for magnetic media and aren't available for SSDs as we've discussed in the thread.
They do have a limited lifetime but there are some very good test results online that show you can write 1tb to modern ssd's every day for ten years with a reasonable expectation of them still working fine.
In short they will outlast your computer unless they fail like any electronic equipment can, and are far more reliable and long lasting than the ave.rage spinning HDD.