Background info: My display went bad (garbled, then would go blank, couldn't see a thing on it) and before sending it to Apple for repair I tried to get it to factory settings (erase SSD), but couldn't "see" when I was in Recovery HD. I was able to execute in Terminal (not in Terminal on Recovery HD) "sudo xartutil --erase-all". Btw, is "xartutil --erase-all" as effective as erasing my SSD? A Google search said to execute "xartutil --erase-all" in Terminal on Recovery HD, but since I couldn't "see" Recovery HD because of my bad display, I executed "xartutil --erase-all" in my Administrator account. I'm pretty sure it worked, so why do the internet articles say to only use xartutil --erase-all in Recovery HD?
Anyway, when I got my display replaced I couldn't login to my MacBook because of xartutil --erase-all. I erased SSD using Disk Utility in Recovery HD and could have then restored using my Time Machine backup, instead I reinstalled macOS and then used my Time Machine backup which I believe restored only the data from my Time Machine backup, but not the macOS that was on the Time Machine backup. Do I have this correct? Which method is better, reinstall macOS first, then use Time Machine backup, or go directly with Time Machine backup after erasing SDD?
Anyway, when I got my display replaced I couldn't login to my MacBook because of xartutil --erase-all. I erased SSD using Disk Utility in Recovery HD and could have then restored using my Time Machine backup, instead I reinstalled macOS and then used my Time Machine backup which I believe restored only the data from my Time Machine backup, but not the macOS that was on the Time Machine backup. Do I have this correct? Which method is better, reinstall macOS first, then use Time Machine backup, or go directly with Time Machine backup after erasing SDD?
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