erasing
Is this still how to wipe a computer?
13/07/25
found this on your website... is this how I wipe iMac to recycle?
And will this work for wiping SSDs?
https://support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/erase-and-reformat-a-storage-device-dskutl14079/mac
___________\
Yes. That process will work. However, sometimes iMacs have a hard time booting into a key triggered mode if the keyboard is bluetooth. I’ve found that the bluetooth sequence won’t always find the keystroke before the entire startup process engages which means you either have to try a few times or plug in a wire to make it happen.
Regarding the second question, disk utility is great. Think of wiping a drive in two ways. Just erasing the drive is fine for about 95% of the population. Erasing a drive just means the file map has been deleted and the computer can no longer find any information on the drive. It’s still there, you just can’t get to it. Much like If a pirate lost the map to the buried treasure. The map is gone but the gold is still out there. Just no one can ever find it.
The other way, which takes a lot longer, is to zero out the drive. That is writing 0s and 1s on top of the entire drive. You can do this in one pass or several passes. This is unnecessary unless you are trying to assure there is no sensitive data still on the drive when giving the drive to someone else who’s planning on going looking for it.
And will this work for wiping SSDs?
https://support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/erase-and-reformat-a-storage-device-dskutl14079/mac
___________\
Yes. That process will work. However, sometimes iMacs have a hard time booting into a key triggered mode if the keyboard is bluetooth. I’ve found that the bluetooth sequence won’t always find the keystroke before the entire startup process engages which means you either have to try a few times or plug in a wire to make it happen.
Regarding the second question, disk utility is great. Think of wiping a drive in two ways. Just erasing the drive is fine for about 95% of the population. Erasing a drive just means the file map has been deleted and the computer can no longer find any information on the drive. It’s still there, you just can’t get to it. Much like If a pirate lost the map to the buried treasure. The map is gone but the gold is still out there. Just no one can ever find it.
The other way, which takes a lot longer, is to zero out the drive. That is writing 0s and 1s on top of the entire drive. You can do this in one pass or several passes. This is unnecessary unless you are trying to assure there is no sensitive data still on the drive when giving the drive to someone else who’s planning on going looking for it.
How do I wipe my computer?
15/02/21
How do I wipe my old computer?
___________
Depends on whether you want it to be useable after it's wiped or if you just want it wiped for recycling.
Wiping for recycling:
Holding down the option and R keys, power on your Mac and you'll boot into what is called "recovery mode". Once there, select Disk utility from the window that shows up.
Once in disk utility, select the hard drive on the left hand column and choose "erase" then follow the prompts. After the erase, the computer will not be bootable to an operating system. It's now ready to be recycled with none of your data on the machine.
Wiping to pass it on to others for future use:
Open system preferences and select "Users and Groups".
Click the lock in the bottom left corner and enter your computer's password.
Click the plus sign on the bottom left to add a new user.
Add a new user by selecting "admin" instead of "standard"
Choose a simple name like "admin"
The second field should automatically fill in with the same name as you entered above.
Enter a simple password twice and include a hint so the next user will see it. I make it obvious. Example: pw is "password". Tip: you can't include the password in the hint field unless it is in quotes.
Next step is to log out of your user and log into the newly created user.
Once in the newly created user, go back to system preferences/Users and Groups
If locked, click to open the lock again (bottom left corner)
Next, select the old user(s) in the left column then hit the minus button below.
Depending on the size of the user, you may have to wait during the next step for a couple minutes but eventually you'll see a drop down window. Select the third option which states "delete home folder immediately"
Do that for each user on the machine other than the newly created user.
Lastly, in system preferences, open "Sharing". In the name field change the old name to something generic like "iMac".
Done.
___________
Depends on whether you want it to be useable after it's wiped or if you just want it wiped for recycling.
Wiping for recycling:
Holding down the option and R keys, power on your Mac and you'll boot into what is called "recovery mode". Once there, select Disk utility from the window that shows up.
Once in disk utility, select the hard drive on the left hand column and choose "erase" then follow the prompts. After the erase, the computer will not be bootable to an operating system. It's now ready to be recycled with none of your data on the machine.
Wiping to pass it on to others for future use:
Open system preferences and select "Users and Groups".
Click the lock in the bottom left corner and enter your computer's password.
Click the plus sign on the bottom left to add a new user.
Add a new user by selecting "admin" instead of "standard"
Choose a simple name like "admin"
The second field should automatically fill in with the same name as you entered above.
Enter a simple password twice and include a hint so the next user will see it. I make it obvious. Example: pw is "password". Tip: you can't include the password in the hint field unless it is in quotes.
Next step is to log out of your user and log into the newly created user.
Once in the newly created user, go back to system preferences/Users and Groups
If locked, click to open the lock again (bottom left corner)
Next, select the old user(s) in the left column then hit the minus button below.
Depending on the size of the user, you may have to wait during the next step for a couple minutes but eventually you'll see a drop down window. Select the third option which states "delete home folder immediately"
Do that for each user on the machine other than the newly created user.
Lastly, in system preferences, open "Sharing". In the name field change the old name to something generic like "iMac".
Done.
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