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CapeCodApple

Suspended
Sep 14, 2018
24
97
Wasted about 4 hrs trying to find a Big Sur download that worked, then trying to make a bootable USB drive to do a clean install on a 2009 iMac we sold yesterday. This would've helped out so much.
 
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donguevas

macrumors member
Sep 8, 2016
60
75
If you create a new Admin user, login as it, then delete the other user and select to delete the Homefolder, it does the same thing. Now the task is automated.
 

Yebubbleman

macrumors 603
May 20, 2010
5,789
2,379
Los Angeles, CA
Apple will take this feature away when they determine user is no longer trustworthy to disable SIP. Not now, but I believe a few years down the line.
Oh totally. That definitely seems to be the trajectory of the Mac platform at large. And moving to Apple Silicon only strengthens their ability and resolve to get to that point.
 

Mr. Dee

macrumors 603
Dec 4, 2003
5,990
12,828
Jamaica
Sometimes we need to take a moment and realize how good we really have it these days. I am reinstalling my Mac OS 10.0 install on a PowerBook G3 and its such a brutal undertaking. Finding the reinstall disc was an Agatha Mystery, then booting from it was a chore then the wait to boot and read from the disk is a nightmare. I personally have not had the need to do a fresh install of modern macOS in years. I always upgrade and never had any stability issues. I stopped my upgrades on my Early 2015 MBP though since I want to keep my Adobe CS6. It came factory preloaded with 10.10, and I have upgraded it each year.
 

Kilibee

macrumors regular
Oct 12, 2016
113
85
Munich
Certainly looks like a convenient feature. However, given how fast this works, this rule create a huge opportunity for bad actors.
 
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nathansz

macrumors 65816
Jul 24, 2017
1,243
1,433
this is a really handy feature. I'm going to have to try it and see if it really clears all the library, usr, private, etc junk out or not

edit: apple silicon only I guess. oh well, a fresh install on my test volume doesn't take that long to do anyway
 
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JippaLippa

macrumors 65816
Jan 14, 2013
1,450
1,553
I think the people saying the presentation was a bust are wrong. More and more great features are being found.
Yeah!

The thing is that these aren't flashy features, but I'd get these 100 times over some gimmicks.

Monterey is shaping up to be a well refined version of Big Sure and I'm happy with it.
 
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vseera

macrumors 6502
May 27, 2011
316
546
I am as happy as the others with this feature finally making it to the Mac, but just to put things in context, I’ve been using this feature with Windows for several years (I think it started with Windows 8) and it’s worked flawlessly over there.

On Windows, even if the installation is trashed and you messed up, doing a wipe and restore from the settings will get it back to a new installation in 20 mins.

It’s definitely very handy.
 
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macintoshmac

Suspended
May 13, 2010
6,089
6,991

Macs from 2017 forward supported.

I am inclined to think this is made to work with T1 and above, for whatever reasons. The option does not exist on a MacBook Air 2017. I am happy going into Recovery Mode, performing a "gpt destroy" command and starting fresh. Being doing that every year with new macOS release, it is almost second nature to me. Only two folders exist locally on my disk that require manual backup when I want to restore, the rest are all in iCloud. For my kind of use, I can work very fast this way without a hassle.

But, this is a great feature to have. It ought to have more security checks before proceeding the wipe though, lest some child with access wipes the parent's computer for fun. I am talking those annoying checks when you reinstall macOS from scratch and for activation it asks you for password and to key in a code sent to your other device and even key in the code you use to unlock your iPhone, et cetera. That would be life-saving in this case.
 
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BanjoDudeAhoy

macrumors 6502a
Aug 3, 2020
804
1,370
I’ve been using this feature with Windows for several years (I think it started with Windows 8) and it’s worked flawlessly over there.

Where do I find this in Windows?
It’s not Fresh Start, is it? That’s what came to mind first but it seems to keep user files rather than get rid of just them.
 

aleni

macrumors 68030
Jun 2, 2006
2,560
858
For someone like me who upgrades mac laptops each year, this is a blessing!
 

MacBH928

macrumors G3
May 17, 2008
8,322
3,718
Insta-deleting all personal files seems very useful for certain criminals.

I will be happy to tell you that there are people out there willing to buy used hard drive just to recover the data from them then blackmail the original user or use their credentials and data to make financial gain like credit card numbers or passwords
 

RickDEGH

macrumors 6502a
Sep 15, 2018
572
1,045
Frankfurt, Deutschland 🇩🇪
I’m wondering why such an important feature was not included earlier. My wife’s MacBook Air is having serious issues which could be addressed by a ‘simple’ reset. She’s away and has terrible internet to complete this process.
 

ThaGoochiestMane

macrumors regular
Jan 2, 2020
149
383
When I sold a MacBook last year it was a real pain to wipe and reinstall MacOS. Took many hours as I had a slow internet connection. An option like this would’ve been great.

This will make it also a lot less of a pain to do an occasional reset if things ever start slowing down or having random software issues.

A true innovation. Never saw another desktop OS have this ability before.
Windows has had this for awhile lol

But tbh before this article I never knew MacOS needed/could need to be reinstalled like Windows.
 

ThaGoochiestMane

macrumors regular
Jan 2, 2020
149
383
I think the people saying the presentation was a bust are wrong. More and more great features are being found.
If the features have to be found doesn't that mean that the presentation was a "bust" (at least to a certain degree)?

Liking the features doesn't mean that they did a good job explaining/selling those features..
 

cupcakes2000

macrumors 68040
Apr 13, 2010
3,867
5,275
I will be happy to tell you that there are people out there willing to buy used hard drive just to recover the data from them then blackmail the original user or use their credentials and data to make financial gain like credit card numbers or passwords
You cannot read encrypted data without the encryption key. You seem to have trouble understanding this from previous threads. You should read up about it a little bit, it’s an interesting topic.
 

Blowback

macrumors 65816
Jan 10, 2018
1,284
732
VA
Not having cameras in the private homes everyone, in every room (including bathrooms) is also very useful for criminals. Should we do that too? Should we ban passwords and encryption because those, too, are also useful for criminals?

Seriously... people sell Macs, sometimes MacOS flakes and you need to re-install... there's more legit reasons that illegit reasons.

But trying to write it off as helping criminals? Why not toss in "for the children" too somehow?
And allows pron……….
 
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