Selling MacBook - Help Erasing Personal Data

[TennisSco]

Hi,

I have searched the web for my question and can't find an answer on OS X El Capitan. I have sold my MacBook Pro and have followed advice on how to erase the hard drive and re install OS X.

My question is do I need to erase the Recovery HD? Does this contain any of my personal data? "It says 650.1MB total 79.1MB available". Does this mean it contains 570MB worth of my data?

I read on another site that it does and should be erased then read on a different site that it shouldn't be erased because it is needed to install OS X since there are no discs now.

Sorry of this question has already been asked and thanks for any help.

 

[KALLT]

There is no personal data in it, but it does no harm to wipe the entire drive anyway. Do you have a regular hard disk or an SSD? How old is your MacBook (or: did Apple include an install DVD with it)?

 

[TennisSco]

There is no personal data in it, but it does no harm to wipe the entire drive anyway. Do you have a regular hard disk or an SSD? How old is your MacBook (or: did Apple include an install DVD with it)?

Thanks for your reply.

An SSD I think. It's the Mid 2014 Pro Retina Display. There are no disks with it.

When I go to the OS X Base System on Disk Utility, I can't erase it as the erase button is greyed out.

 

[KALLT]

Thanks for your reply.

An SSD I think. It's the Mid 2014 Pro Retina Display. There are no disks with it.

When I go to the OS X Base System on Disk Utility, I can't erase it as the erase button is greyed out.

That is because you booted into the OS X Base System a.k.a. recovery partition. You obviously can’t remove that at runtime. However, since you do have an Apple SSD, there is no need for doing this. Recovery has no personal files, just some basic tools that you can use to control the hardware and reinstall OS X. Basically the equivalent of an install DVD.

What you need to do is wipe the Macintosh HD partition. There is a guide here you can follow (scroll down to “Erase your drive and install OS X”): https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204904. You are apparently already at step 3, so just continue from there.

If you want to wipe the entire SSD then you need to boot into Internet recovery by holding down Command-Option-R at startup.

 

[desertman]

... do I need to erase the Recovery HD? Does this contain any of my personal data?

No, and no.

If you have erased the hard drive before and reinstalled OS X there are no personal data from you on the hard drive. The (usually hidden) recovery partition of a hard drive never contains personal data.

 

[DeltaMac]

That is because you booted into the OS X Base System a.k.a. recovery partition. You obviously can’t remove that at runtime. However, since you do have an Apple SSD, there is no need for doing this. Recovery has no personal files, just some basic tools that you can use to control the hardware and reinstall OS X. Basically the equivalent of an install DVD.

What you need to do is wipe the Macintosh HD partition. There is a guide here you can follow (scroll down to “Erase your drive and install OS X”): https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204904. You are apparently already at step 3, so just continue from there.

If you want to wipe the entire SSD then you need to boot into Internet recovery by holding down Command-Option-R at startup.

Good article! The choice to boot to Internet Recovery is the choice that you want, as you can completely reset your drive then. It is actually booting from Apple's remote servers, so boot can sometimes take a while, then you have to wait for the system to download.
Be patient!

 

[TennisSco]

That is because you booted into the OS X Base System a.k.a. recovery partition. You obviously can’t remove that at runtime. However, since you do have an Apple SSD, there is no need for doing this. What you need to do is wipe the Macintosh HD partition. There is a guide here you can follow (scroll down to “Erase your drive and install OS X”): https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204904. You are apparently already at step 3, so just continue from there.

If you want to wipe the entire SSD then you need to boot into Internet recovery by holding down Command-Option-R at startup.

I have already erased

That is because you booted into the OS X Base System a.k.a. recovery partition. You obviously can’t remove that at runtime. However, since you do have an Apple SSD, there is no need for doing this. Recovery has no personal files, just some basic tools that you can use to control the hardware and reinstall OS X. Basically the equivalent of an install DVD.

What you need to do is wipe the Macintosh HD partition. There is a guide here you can follow (scroll down to “Erase your drive and install OS X”): https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204904. You are apparently already at step 3, so just continue from there.

If you want to wipe the entire SSD then you need to boot into Internet recovery by holding down Command-Option-R at startup.

 

[KALLT]

I have already erased

Then you are good to go. It is not necessary to do an Internet recovery in this case. As long as you deleted the Macintosh HD partition and reinstalled OS X afterwards, everything should be in order.

 

[DeltaMac]

Then you are good to go. It is not necessary to do an Internet recovery in this case. As long as you deleted the Macintosh HD partition and reinstalled OS X afterwards, everything should be in order.

The Internet Recovery that I mentioned is not really necessary, unless you can't get el Capitan reinstalled.
Plus, IMHO, you should restore to the original system that Internet Recovery offers, as the purchaser can then get set up with whatever they want. As others say, not a necessary thing, but just what I would do.

 

[TennisSco]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I have already erased the Macintosh HD and left the OS X Base System with 1.3GB on it and 730MB free.

 

[DeltaMac]

FYI - The OS X Base System is the booted system, and is only a virtual disk image that shows up in Disk Utility while you are booted to the recovery system, and does not actually take up the 2.01GB listed in your screen shot. The actual size of the Recovery HD partition on your hard drive is only 650 MB.
You can't remove the Recovery HD anyway, unless you are booted to another drive, or booted to the internet recovery.
Again, just for your information, as you don't need to erase the Recovery HD, unless you really want to do that. Then you would boot to another drive, or boot to Internet Recovery.

 

[TennisSco]

FYI - The OS X Base System is the booted system, and is only a virtual disk image that shows up in Disk Utility while you are booted to the recovery system, and does not actually take up the 2.01GB listed in your screen shot. The actual size of the Recovery HD partition on your hard drive is only 650 MB.
You can't remove the Recovery HD anyway, unless you are booted to another drive, or booted to the internet recovery.
Again, just for your information, as you don't need to erase the Recovery HD, unless you really want to do that. Then you would boot to another drive, or boot to Internet Recovery.

Before parcelling it up I decided to turn it on one more time to check everything was alright and have worryingly been hit with the following screen - a white no entry barrier on a black screen.

Can someone please advise me on what to do?

Thanks.

 

[KALLT]

Before parcelling it up I decided to turn it on one more time to check everything was alright and have worryingly been hit with the following screen - a white no entry barrier on a black screen.

Can someone please advise me on what to do?

Thanks.

View attachment 612651

Have you been able to solve this? This usually means that something went wrong with the install or that you have a faulty boot loader.

 

[Mac03ForLife]

No harm in wiping the disk, as the Mac OSX installer will recreate the recovery partition. Just wipe your hard drive and include a bootable drive with the computer, specifying that though there isn't anything but a BIOS, they can install themselves. Also, you can hit Command + Q when the installer is running, and let the next person pick up... Check out The8BitGuy's tutorial on it using an iBook G3 clamshell.

Bottom line.. unless youre selling it to a hacker or a techie who knows what theyre doing, dont worry too much. The average consumer wont know or wont care about whats on it, they'll just reinstall if they start running out of space.

Happy Mac-ing!

 

[jbarley]

Bottom line.. unless youre selling it to a hacker or a techie who knows what theyre doing, dont worry too much. The average consumer wont know or wont care about whats on it, they'll just reinstall if they start running out of space.

Happy Mac-ing!

I would imagine the OP has figured this out by now, since the thread you responded to is rapidly approaching 2 years old.