Clean sweeping hard drive on a Mac for resale.

Comments: 7 Responses to “Clean sweeping hard drive on a Mac for resale.”

Gary Rosenzweig

13 years ago

Right. Use the disc that came with your Mac. Boot from it. If you like you can use Disk Utility from that disc (look for it in the menu bar) to erase the drive and zero it out as part of the security options. That erases the drive and writes zeroes to all of the bytes on the disc to securely erase your drive.
Then install OS X from the discs.
Make sure you don't set a password for the admin account, or write down the password and give it to the new owner. I get lots of requests for help from people that have bought used Macs and don't have the password!
Also, be sure to include the discs with the sale. Otherwise, one big mistake by the new owner and there's no way for them to restore.

Bob P.

13 years ago

I bought a couple of MacBook Pros last year and don't recall seeing a disc in the boxes. Do the discs come with all new MacBook Pros, or is that something I download?
Thank you.

Gary Rosenzweig

13 years ago

Discs come in the boxes. Did you buy them new or used? They should be in all new boxes. In the most recent generation there is a little white box with a small manual and the disc.
The only exception is the new MacBook Air -- which doesn't have an optical drive. They come with a USB flash drive instead of a disc.

Bob P.

13 years ago

Hmmm,,,I bought them new from the Apple Store in Omaha, NE. I'll check to make sure they aren't there. Otherwise, I still have the receipts & perhaps the store can provide other discs.

Thank you.

Gary Rosenzweig

13 years ago

Look for that white box. They should be in there. It may be labeled "Everything Else."

Ed

13 years ago

Thanks for the help, as always Gary. It worked.

Bob P.

13 years ago

Gary,
Just wanted to let you know I did find the discs that came with both MacBook Pros. They were in a black envelope looking container that I overlooked.
Thanks for the information!
Regards,
Bob P.