Eset For Mac Os High Sierra

Source: iMore

Prepping your Mac for Sale

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It is that time again. Time to decide whether to keep or replace your Mac laptop or desktop computer. If you are reading this article, chances are you've already come to the decision to replace your Mac with the newes model (or maybe you just got a new Mac as a present!), and you're thinking about selling your old one.

The first thing you should do before hitting the streets to sell your old Mac is clear it of any and all personal data. You don't want to accidentally sell your computer to a stranger when you are still logged into iCloud.

The next step is to reinstall the Mac's operating system so that the new owner can get started without having to figure out how to start up in recovering mode. Believe me, that can be a pain.

If you're going through the process of erasing your old Mac and reinstalling the operating system, we've got some common troubleshooting tips to help you out. Don't forget to follow the additional steps if you're selling a MacBook with Touch ID.

Clean the Mac of your personal data before erasing it

If you're about to sell your old Mac, the one thing you don't want to do is to give away the data you've been storing on it all these years. It's a security and privacy thing for you, but it's also important for the buyer. If you leave behind anything that needs to be logged into with a password, that buyer is going to have to track you down and get your password in order to change ownership. A completely fresh-from-scratch Mac is the best way to do this.

Step 1: Back up your Mac

If you already have your new Mac on hand, you can transfer all of your data from your old Mac or use an older Time Machine backup. If you don't have your new Mac yet, well .. then you probably shouldn't be selling your old one yet. But, if you really don't think you'll need your old computer before getting your new one, just make sure to back up your data so that nothing happens to it before you get what you need onto your new Mac.

Step 2: Sign out of everything

The software you have on your Mac is licensed to you, which means it doesn't get transferred to the new owner of your computer (except the operating system). In order to avoid complications with the new owner attempting to download and install software that is licensed by you, make sure to sign out of everything your personal information is connected to.

How to sign out of iTunes (macOS Mojave and older)

Open iTunes on your Mac.
Click Account in the Menu bar on the left side of your screen.
Click on Sign Out.
Source: iMore

How to sign out of iMessage

Open Messages on your Mac.
Click Messages in the Menu bar at the top left corner of your screen.
Click Preferences from the drop-down menu.
Select your iMessage account.
Click on Sign Out.
Source: iMore

How to sign out of iCloud

Click on the Apple icon in the upper-left corner of your Mac's screen.
Click System Preferences from the drop-down menu.
Click on Apple ID (on macOS Mojave and older, click on iCloud).
Source: iMore
Un-tick the box for Find My Mac.
Enter your system password when prompted.
Click on Sign Out.
Click Remove data from this Mac when prompted.

Step 3: Unpair your Bluetooth devices

If you're keeping your Bluetooth devices, you don't want to leave them paired to a Mac that you're getting rid of. It isn't really that important of a step, but if you sell your old Mac to, say, a roommate or someone living in the same house as you, you may experience accidentally connecting back to it.

Click on the Apple icon in the upper-left corner of your Mac's screen.
Click System Preferences from the drop-down menu.
Click on Bluetooth.
Hover over the device you want to unpair.
Click on the X next to the device.

Note: If you're unpairing a keyboard, trackpad, or mouse on a desktop Mac, be sure to have a wired one plugged in or you won't be able to type or use a curser and you'll have to repair it all again.

Step 4: Erase your hard drive

Once your data is backed up and you've signed out of everything that might connect your old Mac to your personal information, you can erase everything on it by reformatting the hard drive.

Restart your Mac.
While the startup disc is waking up, hold down the Command+R keys simultaneously. Your Mac will boot into macOS Recover.
Select Disk Utility.
Click on Continue.
Source: iMore
Click on View.
Click on Show all Devices.
Find your Startup disk (it should be named 'Machintosh HD' unless you renamed it) in the sidebar.
Select the data disk under the startup disk.
Click Edit.
Click Delete APFS Volume from the menu bar or click the Remove button in the disk utility bar.
Confirm by clicking Delete when prompted.

Repeat this process for all data disks under your startup disk. Do not use Delete Volume Group. Once you've deleted all of your data drives, you'll move on to erasing your startup disk.

Select your Startup Disk (it should be named 'Machintosh HD' unless you renamed it) in the sidebar.
Click the Erase button at the top of the Disk Utility window.
If your Mac is using HFS+, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the format list. If your Mac is using APFS, select APFS from the format list. See Troubleshooting for more information on which format to select.
If Scheme is available, select GUID Partition Map.
Click Erase.
Source: iMore
After the process is complete, select Quit Disk Utility from the Disk Utility drop-down menu in the upper left corner of the screen.
Source: iMore

Act for mac os x. Source: Christine Romero-Chan / iMore

After you erase your hard drive it will be ready for a clean installation of the operating system. You should already be in the Utilities window after erasing your Mac. If not, restart your computer and hold down Command and R at the same time until you see the Apple logo.

Make sure to reinstall macOS through Recovery Mode, holding down Command+R. You may be asked to sign in with your Apple ID.

If you get stuck during reinstallation, see our troubleshooting section for additional help.

Note: Make sure your Mac is connected to the internet in order to verify the software. You'll be asked to do so during the installation process.

If, while reinstalling macOS, you're asked to enter a password, enter the password you use to unlock your Mac, not your Apple ID.

Restart your Mac.
While the startup disc is waking up, hold down the Command+R keys simultaneously. You're Mac will boot into macOS Recover.
Click on Reinstall macOS (or Reinstall OS X where applicable) to reinstall the operating system that came with your Mac.
Click on Continue.
Select your hard drive ('Machintosh HD), when asked to select your disk.
Click on Install to install the latest operating system that was on your Mac. Your Mac will restart after the installation is complete.
- Make sure you don't close the lid on a MacBook or put your Mac to sleep during this reinstallation period, even if it takes a while. If the computer goes to sleep, it will stop the installation process from continuing and you'll have to start over. Your screen will go blank, show the restart Apple logo, and show a progress bar several different times.
Hold down Command and Q after the installation is complete. Do not follow the setup instructions. Leave that part for the new owner.
Click Shut Down to shut down your Mac.
Source: iMore

Your Mac is now clean and ready for a new owner. They will complete the setup instructions to get started using the Mac, as well as download the latest macOS operating system that is available and supported on their Mac.

Troubleshooting erasing your hard drive or reinstalling macOS

I've gotten a lot of very specific questions about issues some readers have with erasing or reinstalling macOS (usually reinstalling). Sometimes, the easiest way to fix issues with reinstalling macOS is to start by holding Shift+Option+Command+R which will put your Mac into an alternate version of Recovery Mode that allows you to install the original macOS that came with your Mac. From here, you can either keep that operating system and let the new owner update to their preferred macOS, or go through the macOS update process.

If, during the macOS reinstallation process, the installer doesn't see your disk or says you can't install the operating system on the disk, you may need to try erasing your hard drive again. Restart your Mac and hold down Command+R to bring up Recovery mode and repeat Step 4.

Since macOS changed to APFS, some readers have struggled with which format option to choose when erasing their disk. Here are some other possible troubleshooting issues from Apple's support document that may help you.

Are you formatting the disk that came built into your Mac?

Mac Os Mojave

If the built-in disk came APFS-formatted, don't change it to Mac OS Extended.

Are you about to install macOS High Sierra or later on the disk?

If you need to erase your disk before installing High Sierra or later for the first time on that disk, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). During installation, the macOS installer decides whether to automatically convert to APFS—without erasing your files:

macOS Mojave and Catalina: The installer converts from Mac OS Extended to APFS.
macOS High Sierra: The installer converts from Mac OS Extended to APFS only if the volume is on an SSD or another all-flash storage device. Fusion Drives and traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) aren't converted.

Are you preparing a Time Machine backup disk or bootable installer?

Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for any disk that you plan to use with Time Machine or as a bootable installer.

Will you be using the disk with another Mac?

If the other Mac isn't using High Sierra or later, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Earlier versions of macOS don't mount APFS-formatted volumes.

To learn which format is currently in use, use any of these methods:

Select the volume in the Disk Utility sidebar, then check the information on the right. For more detail, choose File > Get Info from the Disk Utility menu bar.
Open System Information and select Storage in the sidebar. The File System column on the right shows the format of each volume.
Select the volume in the Finder, then choose File > Get Info from the menu bar. The Get Info window shows the Format of that volume.

If you're still having trouble with either erasing your hard drive or reinstalling macOS, please reach out to us in the forums. We have a wonderful community of Apple users that are happy to help someone in need.

Any questions?

Is there anything about resetting your Mac to prepare it for sale that you need help with? Let me know in the comments and I'll get you squared away.

Updated May 2020: Updated for macOS Catalina.

macOS Catalina

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Erasing your disk: For most reasons to erase, including when reformatting a disk or selling, giving away, or trading in your Mac, you should erase your entire disk.

Erasing a volume on your disk: In other cases, such as when your disk contains multiple volumes (or partitions) and you don't want to erase them all, you can erase specific volumes on the disk.

Erasing a disk or volume permanently deletes all of its files. Before continuing, make sure that you have a backup of any files that you want to keep.

How to erase your disk

Start up from macOS Recovery. Then select Disk Utility from the Utilities window and click Continue.
If you're not erasing the disk your Mac started up from, you don't need to start up from macOS Recovery: just open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
Choose View > Show All Devices from the menu bar in Disk Utility. The sidebar now shows your disks (devices) and any containers and volumes within them. The disk your Mac started up from is at the top of the list. In this example, Apple SSD is the startup disk:
Select the disk that you want to erase. Don't see your disk?
Click Erase, then complete these items:
- Name: Type the name that you want the disk to have after you erase it.
- Format: Choose APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Disk Utility shows a compatible format by default.
- Scheme: Choose GUID Partition Map.
Click Erase to begin erasing your disk and every container and volume within it. You might be asked to enter your Apple ID. Forgot your Apple ID?
When done, quit Disk Utility.
If you want your Mac to be able to start up from the disk you erased, reinstall macOS on the disk.

How to erase a volume on your disk

Start up from macOS Recovery. Then select Disk Utility from the Utilities window and click Continue.
If you're not erasing the volume your Mac started up from, you don't need to start up from macOS Recovery: just open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
In the sidebar of Disk Utility, select the volume that you want to erase. The volume your Mac started up from is named Macintosh HD, unless you changed its name. Don't see your volume?
Click Erase, then complete these items:
- Name: Type the name that you want the volume to have after you erase it.
- Format: Choose APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Disk Utility shows a compatible format by default.
If you see an Erase Volume Group button, the volume you selected is part of a volume group. In that case, you should erase the volume group. Otherwise, click Erase to erase just the selected volume. You might be asked to enter your Apple ID. Forgot your Apple ID?
When done, quit Disk Utility.
If you want your Mac to be able to start up from the volume you erased, reinstall macOS on that volume.

Reasons to erase

You can erase at any time, including in circumstances such as these:

You want to permanently erase all content from your Mac and restore it to factory settings. This is one of the final steps before selling, giving away, or trading in your Mac.
You're changing the format of a disk, such as from a PC format (FAT, ExFAT, or NTFS) to a Mac format (APFS or Mac OS Extended).
You received a message that your disk isn't readable by this computer.
You're trying to resolve a disk issue that Disk Utility can't repair.
The macOS installer doesn't see your disk or can't install on it. For example, the installer might say that your disk isn't formatted correctly, isn't using a GUID partition scheme, contains a newer version of the operating system, or can't be used to start up your computer.
The macOS installer says that you may not install to this volume because it is part of an Apple RAID.

About APFS and Mac OS Extended

Disk Utility in macOS High Sierra or later can erase using either the newer APFS (Apple File System) format or the older Mac OS Extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you.

How to choose between APFS and Mac OS Extended

Mac Os Sierra

Disk Utility tries to detect the type of storage and show the appropriate format in the Format menu. If it can't, it chooses Mac OS Extended, which works with all versions of macOS. If you want to change the format, answer these questions:

Are you formatting the disk that came built into your Mac?
If the built-in disk came APFS-formatted, Disk Utility suggests APFS. Don't change it to Mac OS Extended.
Are you about to install macOS High Sierra or later for the first time on the disk?
If you need to erase your disk before installing High Sierra or later for the first time on that disk, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). During installation, the macOS installer decides whether to automatically convert to APFS—without erasing your files.
Are you preparing a Time Machine backup disk or bootable installer?
Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for any disk that you plan to use as a Time Machine backup disk or as a bootable installer.
Will you be using the disk with another Mac?
If the other Mac isn't using macOS High Sierra or later, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Earlier versions of macOS don't work with APFS-formatted volumes.

How to identify the format currently in use

If you want to know which format is currently in use, use any of these methods:

Select the volume in the Disk Utility sidebar, then check the information shown on the right. For more detail, choose File > Get Info from the Disk Utility menu bar.
Open System Information and select Storage in the sidebar. The File System column on the right shows the format of each volume.
Select the volume in the Finder, then choose File > Get Info from the menu bar. The Get Info window shows the Format of that volume.

If your disk or volume doesn't appear, or the erase fails

Shut down your Mac, then unplug all nonessential devices from your Mac.
If you're erasing an external drive, make sure that it's connected directly to your Mac using a cable that you know is good. Then turn the drive off and back on.
If your disk or volume still doesn't appear in Disk Utility, or Disk Utility reports that the erase process failed, your disk or Mac might need service. If you need help, please contact Apple Support.

Learn more

If you can't start up from macOS Recovery, you can use a different startup disk instead.
If Disk Utility shows a Security Options button in the Erase window, you can click that button to choose between a faster (but less secure) erase and a slower (but more secure) erase. Some older versions of Disk Utility offer the option to zero all data instead. These secure-erase options aren't offered or needed for solid-state drives (SSDs) and flash storage.