how to securely erase mac 10.6.8 hard drive

That last throw-away comment, “for more security,” suggests that there’s a little more to cover, so that’s the next topic. For more security, consider turning on FileVault encryption when you start using your SSD drive. These options are not needed for an SSD drive because a standard erase makes it difficult to recover data from an SSD. With an SSD drive, Secure Erase and Erasing Free Space are not available in Disk Utility. You’ll also want to read “ OS X: About Disk Utility‘s erase free space feature.” A note at the end starts to get to the heart of the matter. However, that Apple article skips over the nuance of completely erasing an SSD. “ What to do before you sell or give away your Mac.” Item #6 in that document launches the discussion and links to a pretty good article: “ How to reinstall macOS.” That article, by the way, has a nifty table that summarizes which versions of macOS you can install from the recovery partition. The first thing to do is read Apple support article. You’ll want to securely erase that SSD, but it’s a bit tricker than a plain hard disk. These days, because SSDs have been an option for Macs for almost a decade, it’s very likely that you have, or will soon have, a Mac for sale that boots from an SSD. Securely erasing a hard disk isn’t hard to do, and it’s been discussed in many places.

Back when I did that last, the Mac had a hard disk. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.It’s been awhile since I sold an old Mac. Note : You will need an active Internet connection. Reinstall Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the left side list.Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.

Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. If possible backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive. Install or Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion from Scratch Then you can reinstall from scratch as follows:

How to securely erase mac 10.6.8 hard drive