When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select the startup volume from the left side list then click on the Erase tab. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) then click on the Options button. Select the one pass Zero Data option and click on the OK button. Then click on the Erase button. Go step by step to wipe hard drive data: STEP 1 – Restart Your Mac In Recovery Mode. Go to the Apple Menu located at the top-left corner of your screen & restart your machine. As soon as the Mac begins to restart press & hold Command + R keys altogether to get into Recovery Mode. STEP 2 – Erase Hard Drive On Mac Via Disk Utility. Remove the two small screws holding the display cable. Disconnect the Display cable; Tilt the display up at angle. You should see the (black) Power Supply cable (cover by removable black tape) Peal the tape off and slowly disconnect the cable; Remove the display. Remove the heat senor located under the piece of foam. Disconnect the Hard drive.
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- How To Erase Imac Hard Drive
Most users use Disk Utility to erase a disk or hard drive. But some Mac users might need to erase them from the command line on Mac OS. To do that, the only thing you need is a bit of precise syntax to make sure that you are erasing the proper disk.
Here I'll show you how you can erase and format a disk using the command line.
Working with TerminalStart off by running the following command in the command line: Diskutil list
This is going to list all the mounted drives on your Mac.
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Once you have found the proper drive to erase, just copy its identifier so you can use it for the next command. Then pick a name and a system format type. This is the syntax we need: Diskutil eraseDisk FILESYSTEM DISKNAME DISKIDENTIFIER
Let's say the disk I want to erase has '/dev/disk5s2' as its identifier and I'm going to use Mac OS Extended Journaled (JHFS+) as the system format type and name it 'Empty'. How to logic pro x. The syntax is going to look like this: Diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ Empty /dev/disk5s2
It's important to keep in mind that if you run the eraseDisk command, the target disk is going to lose all its data, so make sure you are erasing the proper disk.
If you need different system format types, here are a few references you could use instead of JHFS+:
- Mac OS Extended: HFS+
- MS-DOS fat32: FAT32
- ExFAT: ExFAT
Before you hand over your laptop or an old hard drive to a friend or a stranger, you have to be very careful and beware. When you delete a file or data from your drive, it's not really gone. Your system marks that occupied space as free space now and you can recover those deleted files on your Mac. Generally new data overwrite that space making the deleted data harder to find. So you have to make sure that all personal and important are cleaned off. Formatting won't help you in this case. Instead you have to securely wipe the hard drive.This guide will tell you how to securely wipe a hard drive on your Mac.
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Why you need to wipe a hard drive?
Wiping your hard drive data is necessary as it may be recovered by it's new user and that person can use that data to harm you. Some things such as identity theft, credit-card fraud, bank fraud, hacking, your auto save passwords, emails, browsing history and personal content can be used to blackmail you or commit crime in your name. So it is advisable to erase your hard drive to reduce the risks.
How to Securely Erase Data from Your Mac and External Drives?
You can use Disk Utility to securely erase hard drive in mac or an external hard drive. All you have to do is follow the steps given below:
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Why you need to wipe a hard drive?
Wiping your hard drive data is necessary as it may be recovered by it's new user and that person can use that data to harm you. Some things such as identity theft, credit-card fraud, bank fraud, hacking, your auto save passwords, emails, browsing history and personal content can be used to blackmail you or commit crime in your name. So it is advisable to erase your hard drive to reduce the risks.
How to Securely Erase Data from Your Mac and External Drives?
You can use Disk Utility to securely erase hard drive in mac or an external hard drive. All you have to do is follow the steps given below:
1.Wiping your hard drive will erase everything. So it's better to back-up your data in an external source before wiping your drive.
2.Open the apple menu and restart your computer. Then wait for your mac to restart.
3.After the system restarts press and hold the Command+R keys.
4.Hold the Command+R keys until you see the Apple logo.
5.After that a window named 'OS X Utilities' pops up.
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6.Click on the Disc Utility option as shown in the image below and click on continue.
7.Select the hard drive you want to erase from the available drives list in the left column.
8.You have to be very careful at this moment. Make sure you select only hard drives and not partition.
9.Once you have selected your drive, click on ‘Erase' button.
10.After doing so the system will ask you to name the hard drive after erasing it and how you want to format the drive. The default settings are preferable.
11.Then select the ‘Security Option' button.
12.A window will pop up asking you how you want to erase your drive. Fastest way is the default. Adjust the slider and select the option which you want. You can choose from the following options.
How can i use excel for free. (a)Fastest (Least preferred): This option doesn't erase your drive securely and a disc recovery application may be able to recover the files.
(b)Option 2: It erases the information used to use your files and writes over the data two times.
(c)Option 3: It erases the information used to use your files and writes over the data 3 times.
(d)Most secure: It erases the information used to get access to your files and writes over the data 7 times.
As the option 1(fastest) is least secure it is foolish to choose it. Option 4 is most secure but it will take a lot of time. So I suggest you to choose from Option 2 or Option 3 depending how securely you want to wipe it out.
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This method works for all hard drive (internal or external). But if you want to erase your startup drive you have to boot your computer from an external source. You can use Diskmaker X to create a bootable external source.
How to Securely Erase a Mac SSD or a flash drive?
Solid state drives or flash drive stores data differently. So using Disc Utility is a bad choice. It may affect your drive memory cells or affect it's performance. There is a simple way to erase your SSD by using FileVault 2 . In FileVault 2 the full-disk encryption (FDE) option keeps your startup drive encrypted all times. When you boots your system with a FileVault encrypted account, OS X encrypts everything written to disk.
You can erase the File Vault encrypted drive using Disc Utility. But before erasing the system will ask you to unlock the drive. To unlock the drive you need to enter the password for the FileVault enabled account. If successful, disc will be unlocked and erased.
Erasing a File Vault encrypted drive will make the drive data irrecoverable.
What if you can't access the hard drive?
How To Erase Imac Hard Drive
If you cannot access the drive then Disc Utility won't help you in this case. Professional data recovery companies may help you in this case. Hard drive platters can be extracted from the drive enclosure and read out using specialized equipment. So smashing or breaking your hard drive is your best option.
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Conclusion
You can use FileVault,Disk Utility and Mac Washing Machine to encrypt and erase your startup or external hard drive.You can always hire a professional service.After wiping your mac hard drive you can wave it goodbye.
