Can anyone tell me the quickest way to return this back to its factory settings? I don't remember any discs coming with my laptop.
Running Mountain Lion BTW!
Running Mountain Lion BTW!
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How to wipe MacBook Pro Retina Clean?
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Back up all your files, re-boot when booting hold your option (alt) key, go to disk utility, erase macintosh HD go back by closing disk utility. Press the re-install OS X and get started.
You can also skip erasing your entire drive and actually keep all your files if you want to. (always back up just to make sure you don't lose any data)
You should have a recovery partition, if so hold Command-R at startup, it will get you into the Recovery partition, when you see the window choose Disk Utility, Erase the HD preferably secure erase so nobody can recover any files, then close Disk Utility and choose install, it will download Mountain Lion, provided you bought it, if not it most likely will install Lion, after thhis the Mac will restart, just shut down when it's time to Setup the Mac, no need for you to enter anything, the new User than will see a Factory Default Mac and needs to set up all the rest by him/herself.
OP has a Retina with SSD, so the secure erase option will not be available (it will be greyed out).
OP> If you are just doing a reinstall for yourself, what justperry explained will do the trick. But if you are selling the machine and want to make sure your data is wiped securely, the best way is to turn on Filevault2 encryption and wait for that to finish, then do what justperry said. This will encrypt all your data and then the erase it.
There is also a way to make a Mountain Lion USB. All you need to do is get an 8GB USB drive.
There are many instructions on the net for creating a ML USB. This will alleviate the need to download the ML installer from Apple.
There are many instructions on the net for creating a ML USB. This will alleviate the need to download the ML installer from Apple.
Opps, I should have said I was selling it.
Thanks everyone.
Weaselboy, how do I turn on the filevault thing?
Thanks everyone.
Weaselboy, how do I turn on the filevault thing?
So what happens when I turn it on? And when it's finished do I just re-boot and click command-r at startup and go from there?
It will encrypt the Data which is extremely secure, it will take some time, let it finish and then restart into recovery, partition and Install.
Oh, and I didn't see before that you had an rMBP as Weaselboy mentioned, do not secure erase, not so good for SSD's.
Hi again,
I've just encrypted everything and pressed option after restart and there is no recovery disk?? Just a Macintosh HD disk. When I click that it just prompts me to log in. So I restarted again and pressed CMD + R > Disk Utility.. and I have no idea how to erase my hard drive/disk/whatever as the Macintosh HD (the one under the top one) is greyed out. Is this because I encrypted it? Whatever I click in the left hand panel there is no option for me to erase? Please help!!!
I'm trying to erase it so I can install a fresh copy of mountain lion on so I can sell it.
If you need to see a picture I can upload one.
Edit: When I hover over the greyed out Macintosh HD it says: Unmounted Encrypted Partition: Macintosh HD
Thanks!
I've just encrypted everything and pressed option after restart and there is no recovery disk?? Just a Macintosh HD disk. When I click that it just prompts me to log in. So I restarted again and pressed CMD + R > Disk Utility.. and I have no idea how to erase my hard drive/disk/whatever as the Macintosh HD (the one under the top one) is greyed out. Is this because I encrypted it? Whatever I click in the left hand panel there is no option for me to erase? Please help!!!
I'm trying to erase it so I can install a fresh copy of mountain lion on so I can sell it.
If you need to see a picture I can upload one.
Edit: When I hover over the greyed out Macintosh HD it says: Unmounted Encrypted Partition: Macintosh HD
Thanks!
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command-r boot to get back to the recovery screen. Then while in Disk Util select the drive itself (like Seagate 500GB or whatever) then click the erase tab to erase the drive. Clicking Macintosh HD won't work.
Like I said, I can't click erase on whatever I click from the left hand side. Not sure what my drive is?? Here is a picture:
Not sure if I am doing something wrong..
Attachments
Try a command-option-r boot to get to Internet Recovery and do the same Disk Util drill from the there.
Hmmm... not sure what went wrong. Let's try to boot off something other than the internal drive. Go ahead and start normally and then use this tool from Apple with a USB key to make a startup key. Then option key boot to the USB key and try again.
Off Topic
I Admire and Appreciate people like Weaselboy for their never-ending pursuit of helping others. Macrumors has some amazing members.
I Admire and Appreciate people like Weaselboy for their never-ending pursuit of helping others. Macrumors has some amazing members.
Thanks, I'll need to look for a USB then I'll let you know what happens.
Thanks again for your help so far, I appreciate it.
Would it be safe just to re-install mountain lion? Would the next user still be able to recover my old files even though I encrypted?
You need to repartition the drive. (It is possible that you need to boot to something else, but give this a shot).
1. Select the "Macintosh HD" that is not greyed out
2. Select the "Partition" tab
3. Click the dropdown under "Partition Layout:"
4. Choose "1 Partition"
5. On the right, enter "Macintosh HD" for the name
6. Make sure the format is "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)"
7. Apply
Let us know what happens.