How to wipe a mac clean for resale mac os x#
How to wipe a mac clean for resale install#
How to wipe a mac clean for resale windows 10#
How to wipe a mac clean for resale license#

How to wipe a mac clean for resale windows 10#

On Windows 10 or 11, you can simply choose to вЂњResetвЂќ your PC and tell Windows to вЂњcleanвЂќ the drive during the process. DonвЂ™t do this for solid-state drives - itвЂ™s both a waste of time and will cause unnecessary wear to the SSD. The below tricks are only necessary if youвЂ™reВ using a mechanical or hybrid hard drive. When you delete a file on a solid-state drive, the file is automatically wiped from theВ drive due to TRIM-this helps keep your SSD speedy. On a laptop or desktop, your internal hard drives only need to be wiped if theyвЂ™re mechanical hard drives or hybrid hard drives. Laptops, Desktops, and Internal Hard Drives To change this, click the вЂњSecurity OptionsвЂќ button, drag the slider at least one notch to the right to that the tool says it will write a pass of random data, and then click вЂњOK.вЂќ Select a file system for the drive and click the вЂњEraseвЂќ button to continue. (You can also right-click the external drive in the list and select вЂњErase.вЂќД«y default, your Mac will note securely wipe the drive. On a Mac, open the вЂњDisk UtilityвЂќ application, select the external drive in the list on the left, and click the вЂњEraseвЂќ button in the toolbar. But, if youвЂ™re about to dispose of the drive, thatвЂ™s fine. You wouldnвЂ™t want to do this all the time. Come back and let us know what you decided vis-a-vis including Microsoft Office and Adobe CS2 too.Bear in mind that solid-state storage only has a limited number of writes.В This will reduce your driveвЂ™s lifespan, especially for cheap flash drives. I realize this sounds like a big burden, but I just think about what I would and wouldnвЂ™t want accessible to someone who stole my own laptop, and itвЂ™s a chilling feeling! There are a lot of places where personal information, from documents to photos, a music library to account names tucked into cookie files, that are easily overlooked and can be real trouble if found by someone with dishonorable intentions. I havenвЂ™t tried it myself, but have read that itвЂ™s a nice application uninstaller: You probably have quite a few apps on your system that should be deleted before you hand your computer on to someone else. This is accessible in the Finder with Finder вЂ“> Secure Empty Trash, and itвЂ™s well worth knowing about even for your own computer usage, just in caseвЂ¦ДЄlso make sure that you deauthorize iTunes on your Powerbook so that they donвЂ™t gain either access to your iTunes account or any music / movies youвЂ™ve bought through the iTunes Store, not to mention wiping all bookmarks, cookies, and other data in your web browsers (Safari, Firefox, Camino, Flock, etc).ДЇinally, you might want to check out AppTrap. When you delete files, remember that you need to use вЂњsecure deleteвЂќ to empty the trash too.

If you donвЂ™t want to reformat your drive and start from scratch, you could remove your user account completely (though IвЂ™d recommend you created a new вЂњdemoвЂќ account first so that the system has something) but at a minimum I would recommend you delete everything in the /Library/Preferences and /Users/ accountname /Library/Preferences directories.

How to wipe a mac clean for resale mac os x#

If you really want to scrub your computer clean and keep this software on then you should seriously consider reformatting the disk, reinstalling Leopard or whatever other version of Mac OS X you have available, installing all the system updates through the Mac Software Update utility (accessible from the Apple menu), and then reinstalling whatever you want to include with the system. I havenвЂ™t done the research on a Aluminum Powerbook (though I do own one, as it happens) but I think youвЂ™re going to find that thereвЂ™s only a minimal incremental value to the unit in the marketplace, if any. One way to find out is to actually do some research on an auction site like eBay: search completed auctions to see winning bid prices for similar hardware, then read through the descriptions to see if they included lots of expensive software or not. ThatвЂ™s the thing of it too: I donвЂ™t think that youвЂ™re going to be able to sell your Powerbook for much more because of the software included on the unit versus what youвЂ™d see if you just scrubbed it clean and sold it вЂњas isвЂќ but had unauthorized and deleted the licensed software applications. And that would really stink if you got an additional $20 for including the software just to find you need to drop another $700 to replace it!

How to wipe a mac clean for resale install#

Does that make sense? Heck, with some software, itвЂ™s savvy enough that you wonвЂ™t even be able to install the second copy of the software if the first hasnвЂ™t been deauthorized or unlicensed.

How to wipe a mac clean for resale license#

I have to start by pointing out that what youвЂ™re proposing isnвЂ™t uncommon but is actually illegal: if you have a single user license for Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite 2, etc., then you either sell the license to the software with the computer, or you need to delete the software from the computer so that you have the license available for your new system.