culture and society | May 16, 2026

How do I wipe my MacBook Pro to sell?

Select the indented volume name of your startup disk from the left side of the Disk Utility window, then click the Erase tab. If you want to securely erase the drive, click Security Options. Select an erase method, then click OK. From the Format pop-up menu, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

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In this regard, how do I completely wipe my MacBook pro?

How to Wipe a Mac Hard Disk Drive (HDD)

  1. Make sure your Mac is turned off.
  2. Press the power button.
  3. Immediately hold down the command and R keys.
  4. Wait until the Apple logo appears.
  5. Select “Disk Utility” from the OS X Utilities list.
  6. Select the disk you'd like to erase by clicking on it in the sidebar.

Subsequently, question is, how can I sell my old MacBook? If you're not ready to make a purchase, you can trade in your old device online for an Apple Store Gift Card via email that you can apply to any future Apple purchase. And no matter how you use Apple Trade In, if your device has no trade-in value, you can always recycle it responsibly for free.

Correspondingly, how do I wipe my Mac and reinstall?

Select your startup drive on the left (typically Macintosh HD), switch to the Erase tab and choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the Format drop-down menu. Select Erase and then confirm your choice. Quit out of the Disk Utility app, and this time choose Reinstall OS X and Continue.

What to do before you sell give away or trade in your Mac?

What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac

  1. Create a backup. Be sure you have an up-to-date backup of your important files and data.
  2. Sign out of iTunes on macOS Mojave or earlier. Open iTunes.
  3. Sign out of iCloud.
  4. Sign out of iMessage.
  5. If you're keeping paired Bluetooth devices, unpair them (optional)
  6. Erase your hard drive and reinstall macOS.
Related Question Answers

How do I format my imac?

Restart your MacBook and hold down the Command and R keys when the gray startup screen appears. Click on the “Disk Utility” option and then click “Continue.” Highlight your MacBook's internal hard drive from the list on the left side of the window. Go to the Erase tab at the top of the window.

How do I clean up my MacBook air?

Some tips for Macbook cleanup
  1. Go through your application folder, removing all unused applications.
  2. Remove all localization files not used for your language, this can free up to 2GB of space.
  3. Open iPhoto and delete photos you no longer need.
  4. Open iTunes and delete all of the music and podcasts you no longer need.

How do I boot my Mac into recovery mode?

The most often used way to enter Recovery Mode is this:
  1. Click on Apple logo at the top left of the screen.
  2. Select Restart.
  3. Immediately hold down the Command and R keys until you see an Apple logo or spinning globe.
  4. Eventually your Mac will show the Recovery Mode Utilities window with the following options:

How do you master reset a MacBook Air?

How to Reset MacBook Air: Performing a Factory Reset
  1. Click Disk Utility.
  2. Click Continue.
  3. Click View > Show All Devices.
  4. Select your hard drive (e.g. "APPLE SSD") and click Erase.
  5. In the Format field, choose the APFS option if you're running macOS High Sierra or later.
  6. Click Erase.

How do I restore my Mac to factory?

Step-by-step Guide to Reset Mac to Factory Settings
  1. Restart in Recovery Mode.
  2. Erase Data from Mac Hard Drive.
  3. a. In the macOS Utilities window, choose Disk Utility and click Continue.
  4. b. Choose your startup disk and click Erase.
  5. c. Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as the format.
  6. d. Click Erase.
  7. e. Wait until the process is finished.
  8. Reinstall macOS (optional)

How do I restore my old MacBook to factory settings?

Part 1 Clearing Your Hard Drive
  1. Restart the Macbook.
  2. Press and hold Command + R. Do so when the gray screen appears during the boot process.
  3. Select a Wi-Fi network.
  4. Select “Disk Utility.”
  5. Erase the hard drive.
  6. Select “Mac OS Extended (Journaled).”
  7. Type in a new name.
  8. Click "Erase."

How do I restore my MacBook pro to factory settings without Apple ID?

How to Reset a MacBook Pro to Factory Settings Without a Disc
  1. Set the MacBook Pro to restart. Hold down the “Command” and “R” keys when the gray screen appears during the boot process.
  2. Select “Disk Utility” from the next screen and click “Continue.” Choose your hard drive in the list and click “Erase.”
  3. Click the “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” option in the new dialog.

How do you delete all files on a Mac?

To move a file to the trash, you can drag it to the trash, right-click on the file and select Move to Trash or use the keyboard shortcut Command-Delete. Then to empty the trash, you can right-click on the trash can and select Empty Trash or use the keyboard shortcut Command-Shift-Delete.

How do I reboot into recovery mode?

Hold down the Power button and turn your phone off. Press and hold the Volume down and Power buttons simultaneously until the device turns on. You can use Volume down to highlight Recovery mode and the Power button to select it.

What if command r does not work?

Hold down the Command and R keys down and press the Power button. Keep holding Command and R until the Apple logo appears on the screen. Let go of the keys and wait for the Mac to complete starting up. (Expect it to take longer than normal.)

How do I do a factory reset?

Factory reset your Android phone from the Settings menu
  1. In the Settings menu, find Backup & reset, then tap Factory data reset and Reset phone.
  2. You'll be prompted to enter your passcode and then to Erase everything.
  3. Once that is done, select the option to reboot your phone.
  4. Then, you can restore your phone's data.

How do I factory reset my Catalina?

The correct way to reinstall macOS Catalina is to use your Mac's Recovery Mode:
  1. Restart your Mac and then hold down ? + R to activate Recovery Mode.
  2. In the first window, select Reinstall macOS ➙ Continue.
  3. Agree to the Terms & Conditions.
  4. Select the hard drive you'd like to reinstall mac OS Catalina to and click Install.

What format should I erase Mac disk?

Click the Erase button or tab, then complete these items:
  1. Name: Enter a name that you want the volume to have after you erase it, such as Macintosh HD.
  2. Format: Choose either APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) to format as a Mac volume. Disk Utility shows the recommended Mac format by default.

Does Disk Utility erase everything?

In Disk Utility on Mac, you can erase and reformat storage devices to use with your Mac. Erasing a storage device deletes everything on it. If you have any files you want to save, copy them to another storage device.

How do I secure erase my Mac?

How do you securely erase a hard drive?
  1. Open Disk Utility via your Applications > Utilities folder.
  2. Select the hard drive you want to securely erase from the list of available drives in the left column.
  3. Once selected, click the “Erase” button.

How do I Unpartition a hard drive on a Mac?

Deleting a hard drive partition on Mac
  1. Step 1: Open Disk Utility.
  2. Step 2: Click the partition that you wish to delete under the logical volume.
  3. Step 3: Click the Erase tab and make sure Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) is selected.
  4. Step 4: Click the Erase button.
  5. Step 5: Click the logical volume.

What is the difference between Apfs and Mac OS Extended?

APFS, or “Apple File System,” is one of the new features in macOS High Sierra. Mac OS Extended, also known as HFS Plus or HFS+, is the file system used on all Macs from 1998 until now. On macOS High Sierra, it's used on all mechanical and hybrid drives, and older versions of macOS used it by default for all drives.

How do I factory reset my iMac?

Restart the Mac in Recovery Mode. Hold down Command and the R key during restart - or use alternative key combination as appropriate (We have a detailed tutorial on using Recovery Mode here). Use Disk Utility to erase the hard drive. Click on Disk Utility > Continue.

How do I reset my Mac without command r?

Hold down Command-Option/Alt-R and press the Power button. (On some Mac keyboards the Option key will be named Alt). Hold down those keys until you a spinning globe and the message "Starting Internet Recovery. This may take a while".