How Do You Erase A Mac
Erase Mac Hard Drive
How Do You Erase A Mac To Give Away
Erase Mac To Factory Settings
Erase Mac Data
Wouldn't you love to rid of some or all files on your Mac forever. Be it for storage space or reselling it. Perhaps your Mac is too old to take the next operating system version, or youve stored a lot of data on it, and youre worried that it could be hijacked if stolen.
The last thing you want is to see that your data was leaked by some hacker, leaving you vulnerable and without a clue of what to do next.
The good news is you can permanently delete files from your Mac using several methods that well show you in this guide. Can My Files Be Retrieved Once I Delete Them
The short answer is yes.
How do you securely erase a hard drive? Even though all new Macs these days come with Flash storage (which Ill cover later), there are still plenty of hard drives around and in use today. Whether its a hard drive in an older Mac or an external hard drive, if it is accessible, you can use Disk Utility to securely erase it.
Turn on your Mac, then immediately press and hold these two keys until you see an Apple logo or other image: Command () and R. You may then be asked to select a user you know the password for. Select the user, then click Next and enter their administrator password. Use Disk Utility to erase your disk.
Select Disk Utility from the options, and click Continue. Click on your main hard drive, typically called Macintosh HD, in the sidebar on the left. You're looking for the disk name, not the volume. It will do a forward-delete instead of its default backwards-delete. Read next: Best Mac shortcuts. Tags: Mac; Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra.
Data recovery technology has made it possible to recover files and restore them, which means someone else can retrieve any files you delete from a hard drive.
Most new Macs come with the solid state drives (flash storage) or Fusion Drives for some iMacs, instead of the old spinning hard disk drives. That is a critical factor when it comes to securely delete files on your Mac because you wont have to do so if it comes with an SSD.
If you have an older Mac, it probably has a regular HDD, but the newer models with the SSDs allow you to use the standard method of moving files and emptying the trash to erase files, compared to securely erasing the files.
Unlike HDDs, where secure file deletion works, it doesnt with the SSDs because overwriting a file only creates a new one in a new location but doesnt overwrite the old files contents.
Thankfully though, there are different methods you can use to permanently delete files on your Mac, whether it has the old HDDs or the SSDs. Note: You can check the storage on your Mac by clicking the Apple logo at the upper left side of the screen, and then going to About This MacStorage. Under the disk icon, you'll see whether your Mac has a spinning HDD or an SSD.
Move Files to Trash
This is a tried and true method of deleting files on your Mac by dragging it to the trash. You can also use the Move to Trash feature by right-clicking the file and selecting the option. From here, you can go ahead and empty the trash.
Delete Immediately is a feature introduced by Apple with OS X (macOS) 10.11 El Capitan that bypasses the trash when you delete a file. Its much faster than Move to Trash as you simply highlight your files and then use the Option-Command-Delete shortcut.
Alternatively, you can go to Finders File menu and hold down Option key to change the Move to Trash option to Delete Immediately. Youll be asked to confirm the deletion, just as you would when using Move to Trash option.
If you want to skip the empty trash confirmation, go to your keyboard and press the shortcut Command-Option-Shift-Delete. That will bypass the dialog window to confirm the deletion and empty the trash instantly.
If that is too difficult for you to remember or cumbersome, change Finder preferences setting to kill the confirmation. Go to MenuPreferences and uncheck the Show warning before emptying the Trash box under Advanced tab. Secure Empty Trash
This is another simple solution to deleting your files permanently from your Mac. It ensures that the items are deleted forever by writing random data over them multiple times.
The feature came with Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. It overwrites data seven times to increase security.
To use this feature, click Finder menu and select Secure Empty Trash just below Empty Trash.
Use a Third-Party App
If deleting your files by emptying the trash doesnt help, you can get a third party application to force the trash to empty. There are many such apps available like Permanent Eraser or Clean My Mac, which can help you empty your trash completely and permanently. Use Mac Terminal
Macs Terminal is a command line tool that allows you to complete tedious tasks such as file deletion easily in just a few seconds. The program uses Unix commands to perform several functions easily and quickly without the operating system interfering with its processes. Its efficient and powerful as it helps you remove files with ease, permanently.
However, if you haven't used the command line, Terminal can be dangerous too. Before getting into it, familiarize yourself with some basic Terminal commands, because any wrong command you enter can cause damage to your system, and you could easily delete files faster than youd have time to stop the process.
Mac os update release date . The precision of every character, including capitalization and spaces, is important when using terminal commands.
To get started, take the steps below:
Step 1: Open Finder and click ApplicationsUtilitiesTerminal.
Step 2 : In the new window, a command prompt with the $ (dollar sign) will appear. The command line youll see is ComputerName:CurrentDirectory Username$ and the word Bash at the top, which is the Terminal language in a Mac.
Step 3 : Type your command and press the Return key after each command to execute it, or copy and paste the command into the terminal window. Type rm and space, and then drag and drop the file(s) you want to get rid of permanently into the Terminal window. Press Enter to remove it forever. Note : You can also enter the files path into Terminal if you want to remove the file even faster without using drag and drop. Easily Delete Files for Good
Before you delete the files, make sure you have a backup of your data in case something goes awry. Of course, we would recommend you to get familiar with Terminal for it can be extremely powerful in erasing files while the interface may suffer a glitch or would be slow.
How to perform backup on mac . Next up: Want to delete your iCloud storage from your Mac and iPhone? Our next article shows you all the steps you need to take to clear out your storage.
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.Read NextHow to Delete iCloud Storage from iPhone and MacAlso Seefile deletion imac Did You Know
Thunderbolt 3 is a data and video transfer protocol and is developed by Intel. More in Mac A Guide on Fixing Apple Music on Mac Not Syncing With iPhone
Deleting browser history is a good way to make sure your history stays yours. In this article, well show you how to safely and quickly remove browser history from your Mac, even from the very first day. Before you proceed, let's find out what google search history is and why you may want to remove it. What is search browser history? Erase Mac Hard Drive
When you surf the web, your browser remembers every page youve ever visited. Apart from the moments when you choose Incognito Mode (or Private Browsing), all of these pages are carefully stored in your browser and are tied up to your account.
Websites you visit can now show up in autofill Google search forms when you look for them. They will also be highlighted in violet in search results.
Browsers also keep the info about when you have visited these pages. Why browsing history can be useful: you can always resort to it when you need to find that-cool-site-what-was-its-name a month after you visited it. How Do You Erase A Mac To Give Away Why would you want to remove browser history then?
Well, that is absolutely up to you. It could be a matter of privacy, professional etiquette, business confidentiality, paranoia, OCD, or taking a general joy in having things cleaned up.
It feels oddly satisfying to know that none of the websites you visited will show up in your Google search results as already visited. When youre giving your Mac to somebody for use or even browsing the web with someone peering over your shoulder, there is a chance theyll see something theyre not supposed to. Your girlfriend doesnt know you have been on the wedding ring websites because you lost a bet on how much diamonds cost, she might take it the wrong way. How to clear browser history?
Clearing only search history (and there is much more stored info on your Mac) is pretty easy. Simply choose one of the blocks below that deals with the browser you use and follow the steps. How to clear browser history in a click:
Or, you can choose a much faster way of dealing with histories, as well as other extra files on your Mac. Get CleanMyMac X (download for free), go to its Privacy module, choose the browsers you use (or even messengers, if you need to), and clean histories from all of them in a click. Saves you time whenever you need a cleanup.
Thats it for browsing history, but your internet activity is also stored on your Mac in the form of caches, logs, downloads, old files youve kept from years ago, and so on. Its a rule of thumb to give your Mac an occasional cleanup to make sure it works swiftly and stores no junk. You can download CleanMyMac X, a handy cleaning app that takes care of all the junk, so you dont have to. Keep your Mac and browsers clean, cheers. How to delete history in Safari manually:
Launch Safari.
Click the History tab in the top menu.
Select Clear History
Choose the time range (most likely all history) that you wish to clear.
Click Clear History. Done. Erase Mac To Factory Settings How to clear Chrome history manually:
Open Chrome.
Enter chrome://history/ in the search bar and press Return.
Click Clear browsing data
Select which time range do you want to clear (probably the beginning of time).
Checkmark only Browsing history.
Click Clear browsing data. How to clear Firefox history manually:
Open the Firefox browser.
Enter about:preferences in the search bar and press Return.
Go to Privacy Security.
Scroll down to see History.
Press Clear History.
Uncheck everything except for Browsing Download History.
Choose the time range and press OK. Erase Mac Data These might also interest you:
How Do You Erase A Mac To Give Away
Erase Mac To Factory Settings
Erase Mac Data
Wouldn't you love to rid of some or all files on your Mac forever. Be it for storage space or reselling it. Perhaps your Mac is too old to take the next operating system version, or youve stored a lot of data on it, and youre worried that it could be hijacked if stolen.
The last thing you want is to see that your data was leaked by some hacker, leaving you vulnerable and without a clue of what to do next.
The good news is you can permanently delete files from your Mac using several methods that well show you in this guide. Can My Files Be Retrieved Once I Delete Them
The short answer is yes.
How do you securely erase a hard drive? Even though all new Macs these days come with Flash storage (which Ill cover later), there are still plenty of hard drives around and in use today. Whether its a hard drive in an older Mac or an external hard drive, if it is accessible, you can use Disk Utility to securely erase it.
Turn on your Mac, then immediately press and hold these two keys until you see an Apple logo or other image: Command () and R. You may then be asked to select a user you know the password for. Select the user, then click Next and enter their administrator password. Use Disk Utility to erase your disk.
Select Disk Utility from the options, and click Continue. Click on your main hard drive, typically called Macintosh HD, in the sidebar on the left. You're looking for the disk name, not the volume. It will do a forward-delete instead of its default backwards-delete. Read next: Best Mac shortcuts. Tags: Mac; Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra.
Data recovery technology has made it possible to recover files and restore them, which means someone else can retrieve any files you delete from a hard drive.
Most new Macs come with the solid state drives (flash storage) or Fusion Drives for some iMacs, instead of the old spinning hard disk drives. That is a critical factor when it comes to securely delete files on your Mac because you wont have to do so if it comes with an SSD.
If you have an older Mac, it probably has a regular HDD, but the newer models with the SSDs allow you to use the standard method of moving files and emptying the trash to erase files, compared to securely erasing the files.
Unlike HDDs, where secure file deletion works, it doesnt with the SSDs because overwriting a file only creates a new one in a new location but doesnt overwrite the old files contents.
Thankfully though, there are different methods you can use to permanently delete files on your Mac, whether it has the old HDDs or the SSDs. Note: You can check the storage on your Mac by clicking the Apple logo at the upper left side of the screen, and then going to About This MacStorage. Under the disk icon, you'll see whether your Mac has a spinning HDD or an SSD.
Move Files to Trash
This is a tried and true method of deleting files on your Mac by dragging it to the trash. You can also use the Move to Trash feature by right-clicking the file and selecting the option. From here, you can go ahead and empty the trash.
Delete Immediately is a feature introduced by Apple with OS X (macOS) 10.11 El Capitan that bypasses the trash when you delete a file. Its much faster than Move to Trash as you simply highlight your files and then use the Option-Command-Delete shortcut.
Alternatively, you can go to Finders File menu and hold down Option key to change the Move to Trash option to Delete Immediately. Youll be asked to confirm the deletion, just as you would when using Move to Trash option.
If you want to skip the empty trash confirmation, go to your keyboard and press the shortcut Command-Option-Shift-Delete. That will bypass the dialog window to confirm the deletion and empty the trash instantly.
If that is too difficult for you to remember or cumbersome, change Finder preferences setting to kill the confirmation. Go to MenuPreferences and uncheck the Show warning before emptying the Trash box under Advanced tab. Secure Empty Trash
This is another simple solution to deleting your files permanently from your Mac. It ensures that the items are deleted forever by writing random data over them multiple times.
The feature came with Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. It overwrites data seven times to increase security.
To use this feature, click Finder menu and select Secure Empty Trash just below Empty Trash.
Use a Third-Party App
If deleting your files by emptying the trash doesnt help, you can get a third party application to force the trash to empty. There are many such apps available like Permanent Eraser or Clean My Mac, which can help you empty your trash completely and permanently. Use Mac Terminal
Macs Terminal is a command line tool that allows you to complete tedious tasks such as file deletion easily in just a few seconds. The program uses Unix commands to perform several functions easily and quickly without the operating system interfering with its processes. Its efficient and powerful as it helps you remove files with ease, permanently.
However, if you haven't used the command line, Terminal can be dangerous too. Before getting into it, familiarize yourself with some basic Terminal commands, because any wrong command you enter can cause damage to your system, and you could easily delete files faster than youd have time to stop the process.
Mac os update release date . The precision of every character, including capitalization and spaces, is important when using terminal commands.
To get started, take the steps below:
Step 1: Open Finder and click ApplicationsUtilitiesTerminal.
Step 2 : In the new window, a command prompt with the $ (dollar sign) will appear. The command line youll see is ComputerName:CurrentDirectory Username$ and the word Bash at the top, which is the Terminal language in a Mac.
Step 3 : Type your command and press the Return key after each command to execute it, or copy and paste the command into the terminal window. Type rm and space, and then drag and drop the file(s) you want to get rid of permanently into the Terminal window. Press Enter to remove it forever. Note : You can also enter the files path into Terminal if you want to remove the file even faster without using drag and drop. Easily Delete Files for Good
Before you delete the files, make sure you have a backup of your data in case something goes awry. Of course, we would recommend you to get familiar with Terminal for it can be extremely powerful in erasing files while the interface may suffer a glitch or would be slow.
How to perform backup on mac . Next up: Want to delete your iCloud storage from your Mac and iPhone? Our next article shows you all the steps you need to take to clear out your storage.
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.Read NextHow to Delete iCloud Storage from iPhone and MacAlso Seefile deletion imac Did You Know
Thunderbolt 3 is a data and video transfer protocol and is developed by Intel. More in Mac A Guide on Fixing Apple Music on Mac Not Syncing With iPhone
Deleting browser history is a good way to make sure your history stays yours. In this article, well show you how to safely and quickly remove browser history from your Mac, even from the very first day. Before you proceed, let's find out what google search history is and why you may want to remove it. What is search browser history? Erase Mac Hard Drive
When you surf the web, your browser remembers every page youve ever visited. Apart from the moments when you choose Incognito Mode (or Private Browsing), all of these pages are carefully stored in your browser and are tied up to your account.
Websites you visit can now show up in autofill Google search forms when you look for them. They will also be highlighted in violet in search results.
Browsers also keep the info about when you have visited these pages. Why browsing history can be useful: you can always resort to it when you need to find that-cool-site-what-was-its-name a month after you visited it. How Do You Erase A Mac To Give Away Why would you want to remove browser history then?
Well, that is absolutely up to you. It could be a matter of privacy, professional etiquette, business confidentiality, paranoia, OCD, or taking a general joy in having things cleaned up.
It feels oddly satisfying to know that none of the websites you visited will show up in your Google search results as already visited. When youre giving your Mac to somebody for use or even browsing the web with someone peering over your shoulder, there is a chance theyll see something theyre not supposed to. Your girlfriend doesnt know you have been on the wedding ring websites because you lost a bet on how much diamonds cost, she might take it the wrong way. How to clear browser history?
Clearing only search history (and there is much more stored info on your Mac) is pretty easy. Simply choose one of the blocks below that deals with the browser you use and follow the steps. How to clear browser history in a click:
Or, you can choose a much faster way of dealing with histories, as well as other extra files on your Mac. Get CleanMyMac X (download for free), go to its Privacy module, choose the browsers you use (or even messengers, if you need to), and clean histories from all of them in a click. Saves you time whenever you need a cleanup.
Thats it for browsing history, but your internet activity is also stored on your Mac in the form of caches, logs, downloads, old files youve kept from years ago, and so on. Its a rule of thumb to give your Mac an occasional cleanup to make sure it works swiftly and stores no junk. You can download CleanMyMac X, a handy cleaning app that takes care of all the junk, so you dont have to. Keep your Mac and browsers clean, cheers. How to delete history in Safari manually:
Launch Safari.
Click the History tab in the top menu.
Select Clear History
Choose the time range (most likely all history) that you wish to clear.
Click Clear History. Done. Erase Mac To Factory Settings How to clear Chrome history manually:
Open Chrome.
Enter chrome://history/ in the search bar and press Return.
Click Clear browsing data
Select which time range do you want to clear (probably the beginning of time).
Checkmark only Browsing history.
Click Clear browsing data. How to clear Firefox history manually:
Open the Firefox browser.
Enter about:preferences in the search bar and press Return.
Go to Privacy Security.
Scroll down to see History.
Press Clear History.
Uncheck everything except for Browsing Download History.
Choose the time range and press OK. Erase Mac Data These might also interest you:
