Completely wipe 2011 Macbook Air

[nooboob]

I'm trying to completely wipe my MBA 13'' (the latest model), and am wondering besides just reinstalling Lion on it, the safer route would be. I plan on selling this and granted I don't have sensitive info, I just want to be on the safe side.

With my old Macbook Pro's, I just 7-layer wiped it, but with these SSD's I understand that things aren't that simple anymore.

Being completely technical-illiterate, how should I go about doing this? I did a search and read about encrypting, but the whole thing sounds very complicated and confusing. Not really sure on how to begin this...

Comments and suggestions appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Hellhammer]

Wiping it once should be enough. SSDs aren't based on magnetism like HDs are so the chance of something being left is pretty close to zero.

 

[nooboob]

Wiping it once should be enough. SSDs aren't based on magnetism like HDs are so the chance of something being left is pretty close to zero.

When you say "wiping", you mean reinstalling the Lion OS, right? To my knowledge, the latest generation Macbook Air's don't have a "wiping" option; just a reinstalling Lion OS option.

 

[Hellhammer]

When you say "wiping", you mean reinstalling the Lion OS, right? To my knowledge, the latest generation Macbook Air's don't have a "wiping" option; just a reinstalling Lion OS option.

You can use Disk Utility to erase the drive. It is available when booting from the recovery partition.

 

[agentphish]

You certainly can erase any computer ever made. If it's got storage it can be erased.

Boot with CMD + R held down, choose disk utility from the utilities menu at the top, choose your drive, go to the erase tab and choose your options and erase.

Make sure you have an internet connection handy so you can reinstall Lion.

 

[nooboob]

Wiping it once should be enough. SSDs aren't based on magnetism like HDs are so the chance of something being left is pretty close to zero.

You can use Disk Utility to erase the drive. It is available when booting from the recovery partition.

Thanks guys. I plan on selling the MBA though... Is there a more secure erase option than this wipe? I've seen it done on other MBA's and it doesn't seem all that secure.

Here is a quote from another topic: "I have read that when you wipe a SSD, it just "forgets" where the files are and doesn't actually delete the files."

 

[Hellhammer]

Thanks guys. I plan on selling the MBA though... Is there a more secure erase option than this wipe? I've seen it done on other MBA's and it doesn't seem all that secure.

Here is a quote from another topic: "I have read that when you wipe a SSD, it just "forgets" where the files are and doesn't actually delete the files."

That's if there was no TRIM. TRIM will really erase the data, just use Disk Utility.

 

[nooboob]

That's if there was no TRIM. TRIM will really erase the data, just use Disk Utility.

Thanks Hellhammer. So basically, using FileVault is unnecessary? (Sorry, I'm pretty noob-ish to TRIM and everything else)

 

[Hellhammer]

Thanks Hellhammer. So basically, using FileVault is unnecessary? (Sorry, I'm pretty noob-ish to TRIM and everything else)

FileVault is encryption. It will encrypt the data, which means it cannot be accessed without the password. The problem is that the whole volume needs to be encrypted so the buyer couldn't use the machine at all.

 

[kultschar]

Im in the same boat as the original poster however due to restrictions I cannot install Lion via the Internet.

Can I reinstall via USB stick?

 

[nooboob]

FileVault is encryption. It will encrypt the data, which means it cannot be accessed without the password. The problem is that the whole volume needs to be encrypted so the buyer couldn't use the machine at all.

Really? I could have sworn several people used FileVault2 to encrypt their old data, and then erased/reinstalled Lion over that, rendering any access to old data impossible. Does that not work?

 

[Internaut]

Ummmm.... Silly question (only ever used this on PC) but is there no trace destruction software for Mac?

 

[Hellhammer]

Really? I could have sworn several people used FileVault2 to encrypt their old data, and then erased/reinstalled Lion over that, rendering any access to old data impossible. Does that not work?

I guess that works too, because you cannot access the encrypted volume, hence it will be wiped before installing. No need to make it more complex though.