Time to sell my MBP - Help w/ full erase

[Sam5281]

I'm sure you are all very familiar with this situation: Going to sell your old MBP and need to wipe clean completely (for security purposes). Am running YOSEMITE - but originally came with 10.5 Leopard. What buyer would want that OS now anyway? Is it necessary to restore to 10.5 on disks? If someone has the patience and doesn't mind directing me toward the best way of wiping clean to new MBP state, I would greatly appreciate it!

Cheers!

 

[andy9l]

I'm sure you are all very familiar with this situation: Going to sell your old MBP and need to wipe clean completely (for security purposes). Am running YOSEMITE - but originally came with 10.5 Leopard. What buyer would want that OS now anyway? Is it necessary to restore to 10.5 on disks? If someone has the patience and doesn't mind directing me toward the best way of wiping clean to new MBP state, I would greatly appreciate it!

Cheers!

From memory, this should be the full process:

1. Make a time machine backup of your Mac, or at least backup everything you need
2. Clone your backup onto another drive to be safe
3. Download Yosemite from the App Store (App Store > Purchases > Yosemite > Download)
4. Follow Option 1 of this guide to make a bootable USB
5. Check your backups
6. Restart your Mac and hold 'alt' (option key)
7. Select the 'Install OS X Yosemite' USB from the list using arrow keys and hit enter
8. Once booted, choose Disk utility from the list and load it up
9. Select your main drive (should have 'Macintosh HD' nested below it), and click the Erase tab
10. Ensure the format is 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)', and call it 'Macintosh HD'
11. Click 'Security options...' in the lower right, and move the slider at least one notch to the right
12. Click 'Erase...' in the bottom right and say yes/ok to the warnings
13. Quit disk utility and then click 'Install OS X'
14. Follow the prompts to install Yosemite on 'Macintosh HD'
15. Try to avoid signing in with your Apple ID at any stage during first boot

 

[tumas]

...
11. Click 'Erase...' in the bottom right and say yes/ok to the warnings (you could do a secure erase)
...

Perfect walktrough, but i would say he should do a secure erase. Especially if it is an old Macbook with standard HDD. Only reformating (quick erase) makes it very easy to recover all the data. 1x overwriting the whole HDD with random data should be sufficient enough (not sure if this is an option with disk utility?)

 

[Troneas]

Perfect walktrough, but i would say he should do a secure erase. Especially if it is an old Macbook with standard HDD. Only reformating (quick erase) makes it very easy to recover all the data. 1x overwriting the whole HDD with random data should be sufficient enough (not sure if this is an option with disk utility?)

this,


i recommend running filevault before deleting the drive.

and sign out of all your cloud services.

 

[MacInTO]

Here also is an Apple support document with some things to do,

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065

 

[andy9l]

Perfect walktrough, but i would say he should do a secure erase. Especially if it is an old Macbook with standard HDD. Only reformating (quick erase) makes it very easy to recover all the data. 1x overwriting the whole HDD with random data should be sufficient enough (not sure if this is an option with disk utility?)

Good shout, I've edited my post for anyone who stumbles across it in future years via desperate Google searches. I believe OS X just writes zeroes everywhere as opposed to random data, but I may be wrong.

Here also is an Apple support document with some things to do,

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065

Nice find.

 

[Sam5281]

Perfect walktrough, but i would say he should do a secure erase. Especially if it is an old Macbook with standard HDD. Only reformating (quick erase) makes it very easy to recover all the data. 1x overwriting the whole HDD with random data should be sufficient enough (not sure if this is an option with disk utility?)

How would I go about doing the secure erase? That is my preference is possible.

this,


i recommend running filevault before deleting the drive.

and sign out of all your cloud services.

I have already signed out of all the services - and de-authorized iTunes. What is the file vault procedure?

Here also is an Apple support document with some things to do,

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065

Thanks for that! Did all of that last night - however they don't go into detail after the preliminary steps of how to do FULL erase of the computer.

Good shout, I've edited my post for anyone who stumbles across it in future years via desperate Google searches. I believe OS X just writes zeroes everywhere as opposed to random data, but I may be wrong.



Nice find.

Exactly! Appreciate that, because I searched google all last night and did not come across many helpful links. The knowledge, and responses I have gotten here already, have been much more informative then any google link I visited yesterday. This was about the only good instruction I found, but things got a bit confusing under the "Determine what system to install" bit. http://www.thesafemac.com/how-to-prepare-your-mac-for-sale/

From memory, this should be the full process:

1. Make a time machine backup of your Mac, or at least backup everything you need
2. Clone your backup onto another drive to be safe
3. Download Yosemite from the App Store (App Store > Purchases > Yosemite > Download)
4. Follow Option 1 of this guide to make a bootable USB
5. Check your backups
6. Restart your Mac and hold 'alt' (option key)
7. Select the 'Install OS X Yosemite' USB from the list using arrow keys and hit enter
8. Once booted, choose Disk utility from the list and load it up
9. Select your main drive (should have 'Macintosh HD' nested below it), and click the Erase tab
10. Ensure the format is 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)', and call it 'Macintosh HD'
11. Click 'Security options...' in the lower right, and move the slider at least one notch to the right
12. Click 'Erase...' in the bottom right and say yes/ok to the warnings
13. Quit disk utility and then click 'Install OS X'
14. Follow the prompts to install Yosemite on 'Macintosh HD'
15. Try to avoid signing in with your Apple ID at any stage during first boot

Ok. Will give this process a go tomorrow. Is this the full erase process?

Thanks all for taking the time to respond, and help out!

 

[JTravers]

Creating a bootable USB is definitely the way to go. You don't even have to use a USB flash drive. I keep an external drive around with 3 partitions -- one for Time Machine backups, one for a Carbon Copy Cloner clone of the drive, and a tiny 10GB partition with a bootable copy of the latest "Install OS X" app created via the createinstallmedia command in the terminal.

 

[MacInTO]

I'd assume the security erase is good enough for most of us - unless you're selling your machine to Ed Snowden.

If you're really paranoid, you can always swap the hard drive with a new one. I did that once when I sold a machine because it was faster than doing all the steps.

 

[andy9l]

Ok. Will give this process a go tomorrow. Is this the full erase process

Yep, my walk-through should get you through a full secure erase, and a fresh install of OS X Yosemite.

Let us know if you run into any troubles or have ant questions.

 

[poiihy]

From memory, this should be the full process:

1. Make a time machine backup of your Mac, or at least backup everything you need
2. Clone your backup onto another drive to be safe
3. Download Yosemite from the App Store (App Store > Purchases > Yosemite > Download)
4. Follow Option 1 of this guide to make a bootable USB
5. Check your backups
6. Restart your Mac and hold 'alt' (option key)
7. Select the 'Install OS X Yosemite' USB from the list using arrow keys and hit enter
8. Once booted, choose Disk utility from the list and load it up
9. Select your main drive (should have 'Macintosh HD' nested below it), and click the Erase tab
10. Ensure the format is 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)', and call it 'Macintosh HD'
11. Click 'Security options...' in the lower right, and move the slider at least one notch to the right
12. Click 'Erase...' in the bottom right and say yes/ok to the warnings
13. Quit disk utility and then click 'Install OS X'
14. Follow the prompts to install Yosemite on 'Macintosh HD'
15. Try to avoid signing in with your Apple ID at any stage during first boot

I suggest, rather than setting up the Mac before selling it, you just press Command+Q to quit the setup. Then when the buyer starts it for the first time, he will be greeted with a setup screen, as if it was brand new.

 

[Sam5281]

Yep, my walk-through should get you through a full secure erase, and a fresh install of OS X Yosemite.

Let us know if you run into any troubles or have ant questions.

Everything worked just as planned, thank you for taking the time out to respond! Mac is cleared out, and have a bootable version of Yosemite whenever I need it.

Are there any other programs I should download/ or add onto the stock software that a buyer might potentially want?

Thanks again guys! This forum is great!

 

[poiihy]

Everything worked just as planned, thank you for taking the time out to respond! Mac is cleared out, and have a bootable version of Yosemite whenever I need it.

Are there any other programs I should download/ or add onto the stock software that a buyer might potentially want?

Thanks again guys! This forum is great!

I suggest you do not install anything and instead leave the setup to the buyer. You should've cmd-Q'd out of the setup instead of going through. THis way when they turn it on they are greeted with a setup screen, as if it was a new Mac, and they can set it up however they want. It also gives them a more secure feeling.

 

[andy9l]

Everything worked just as planned, thank you for taking the time out to respond! Mac is cleared out, and have a bootable version of Yosemite whenever I need it.



Are there any other programs I should download/ or add onto the stock software that a buyer might potentially want?



Thanks again guys! This forum is great!

No problem, glad to help. The forum is great most of the time - you get the odd bad egg now and then.

I'd recommend leaving the Mac as clean as possible. It's likely the buyer will do the whole process you've just done all over again anyway, just to be safe. I know I would.

As mentioned, leaving the Mac on the first-boot setup process (where you choose region, create a user, etc.) would be most ideal, but I realise that can be difficult.

You've done your part for the sale.

 

[poiihy]

As mentioned, leaving the Mac on the first-boot setup process (where you choose region, create a user, etc.) would be most ideal, but I realise that can be difficult.

How is it difficult? If anything it would be easier because you don't have to do anything.

 

[andy9l]

How is it difficult? If anything it would be easier because you don't have to do anything.

Is the normal Apple menu bar still present during the setup process? If so, then, yes, you're right.

 

[poiihy]

Is the normal Apple menu bar still present during the setup process? If so, then, yes, you're right.

All you need to do is press Command+Q. And I think the menubar is there; to view it just move the cursor to the top of screen.

 

[andy9l]

All you need to do is press Command+Q. And I think the menubar is there; to view it just move the cursor to the top of screen.

Can you quit the first-boot setup process?! Surely then you're just stuck in limbo?

You might be right - I've never tried.

 

[poiihy]

Can you quit the first-boot setup process?! Surely then you're just stuck in limbo?

You might be right - I've never tried.

You can quit the setup. Quitting it will close it and shut down the computer. The next time the computer boots, the setup will be there again. Apple says this themselves.

 

[andy9l]

You can quit the setup. Quitting it will close it and shut down the computer. The next time the computer boots, the setup will be there again. Apple says this themselves.

Perfect, well there lies the answer then. Cheers.

 

[Sam5281]

The only reason I did not have the computer start of from the Apple mode - is because I wanted to provide buyer with screen shots of computer info, IE: HD type/space, OS, About Mac info, etc. I might be in the minority, but that info is certainly important to see if I was purchasing a used computer.

 

[andy9l]

The only reason I did not have the computer start of from the Apple mode - is because I wanted to provide buyer with screen shots of computer info, IE: HD type/space, OS, About Mac info, etc. I might be in the minority, but that info is certainly important to see if I was purchasing a used computer.

It doesn't matter too much, the buyer can always make a new account and delete the one you created.

 

[Sam5281]

It doesn't matter too much, the buyer can always make a new account and delete the one you created.

Thats right! Thanks for your help again. Appreciate you taking time to write out steps! Can be useful for anyone who comes on here, and needs to do the same when time to sell their Mac.

 

[andy9l]

Thats right! Thanks for your help again. Appreciate you taking time to write out steps! Can be useful for anyone who comes on here, and needs to do the same when time to sell their Mac.

No worries - glad it helped. Hope the sale goes well.