The following directions for wiping a computer will work with any system running Windows 10, as well as most Macs. The entry typically says “solid state” or “flash storage” for a solid-state drive (SSD), whereas for a mechanical hard drive it says “hard disk drive.” On a Mac, click the Apple logo and then About this Mac, and select the Storage tab. On Windows, this information is harder to find than it should be, but the easiest way is to open the Defragment and Optimize Drives tool (type “defragment” into the search menu in the taskbar). Next, figure out which type of storage your computer has. For Macs, Apple recommends logging out of any iCloud services, including iTunes and iMessages. How you do this depends on which operating system you have and what type of storage drive your device has.īefore you wipe a computer, make sure that you have a backup of any files you need and deactivate any software that requires doing so. On most devices, wiping your data securely is pretty straightforward, and doing so can prevent your data from being recovered by someone you would rather not have it. Find out more about reinstalling m acOS.Your computer, phone, or tablet holds all kinds of personal information about you, and before you sell, return, recycle, or donate it, you should make sure to delete all of that information correctly.

If you want your Mac to start up again from the volume you've just erased, select Reinstall macOS in the utilities window, then click Continue and follow the onscreen instructions.

When you've finished, close Disk Utility to return to the utilities window.

Optional: if you used Disk Utility previously to add internal volumes other than Macintosh HD, you can erase them individually using the same process.

If you can't see this button, click Erase instead.

Format: APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled), as recommended by Disk Utility.

Click the Erase button in the toolbar, then enter the requested details:.Select Macintosh HD in the sidebar of Disk Utility.

From the utilities window, select Disk Utility and click Continue.If asked, select a user you know the password for and enter their administrator password.Start up from macOS Recovery: turn on your Mac, then press and hold Command (⌘) and R immediately until you see an Apple logo or other image.

Download r wipe and clean mac