How To Clean Your Mac For Sale

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Earlier selling, gifting, or recycling a Mac, you'll want to take a number of steps to properly prepare it. Here'southward how.

Whether you take your eye on a new M1 Mac or you just desire to get rid of an old macOS device in an environmentally responsible mode, it'southward important to properly sign out of certain services and delete your quondam data before doing so.

The process is fairly straightforward merely may take some fourth dimension, and so be sure to budget some fourth dimension to preparing your Mac earlier getting rid of it. Also, these steps but apply to Intel-based Macs, since a couple of steps are a fleck different on Apple Silicon machines.

With both of those things in listen, here's how to set up your Mac device before you go rid of it.

Step 1: Support your Mac

Brand certain to back up your Mac before proceeding.

If you lot're planning on selling, regifting, or recycling your Mac device, it'due south probable that yous've already thought virtually the information stored on it. If you oasis't, let this exist a reminder.

Preparing a Mac for transfer to a new owner should involve deleting all the data on it for both security and privacy reasons. If you don't want to lose that data forever, yous'll need to support your device before yous continue to whatever additional steps.

The simplest method of backing upwardly your Mac is using Apple's built-in Time Auto feature. At that place are other options to consider, and more data is available here.

Sign out of your services

Signing out of your services and your Apple ID, is also a good idea.

Erasing your Mac volition typically ensure that your information stays in your own hands. But, depending on the version of macOS that the Mac is running, at that place are a few additional steps you may want to take.

If you're on Os 10 Mountain King of beasts or earlier, so it's a good practice to sign out of iMessage. Here's how.

1. Open the iMessage app on your Mac.
2. Choose Messages from the top carte du jour bar, and then select Preferences.
3. In this bill of fare, click on iMessage.
4. Finally, click Sign Out.

If you plan on transferring a device running macOS Mojave or earlier, then you'll desire to sign out of iTunes, too.

1. Open iTunes.
2. In the iTunes window, select Account and Authorizations.
3. From that drop downwards menu, select Deauthorize this Computer.
4. You'll exist prompted to enter your Apple ID account credentials and countersign.
5. Once you practise, hit Deauthorize.

Finally, information technology'south a good thought to sign out of iCloud on any Mac device before you go nearly erasing the drive.

In macOS Catalina and macOS Big Sur, this is done by clicking on the Apple tree icon in the top menu bar, so navigating to Organization Preferences > Apple tree ID. From here, select Overview and and then click on the Sign Out button.

It'due south a similar but slightly different on macOS Mojave and earlier. Choose the Apple icon in the menu bar, select System Preferences, click iCloud, and then click Sign Out.

You may be asked if you want to go along a copy of the iCloud information on your Mac. It doesn't really affair i fashion or the other, since you'll be erasing your drive and whatever iCloud data will remain synced to your Apple cloud storage.

A couple of additional steps

Apple too recommends that users reset the NVRAM on their devices.

1 pace that many people miss is to reset the nonvolatile random-admission retentiveness (NVRAM) and parameter RAM (PRAM) earlier reinstalling macOS.

It's a best practice, however. Resetting the PRAM will clear sure user settings from your Mac'southward memory. It'll also restore certain deeper-level security features that may accept been changed. Here'south how to do information technology.

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Turn on your Mac and immediately press and hold Option, Control, P and R.
3. After about 20 seconds, you can release your keys.

You'll know that the reset worked if you run across the Apple tree logo appear and disappear for a second time on T2-equipped Macs. On older Macs, you'll hear that signature startup sound.

Do notation that resetting the NVRAM and PRAM using this method but works on Intel-based Macs. At that place'south no option to manually reset NVRAM on Apple Silicon Macs.

In addition to resetting your NVRAM, yous may also want to manually unpair whatsoever Bluetooth devices from your Mac.

This step isn't strictly necessary, simply it could avert confusion if you alive with the person you're transferring the Mac to. Information technology could also mitigate any Bluetooth security concerns you may have.

Just navigate to Apple tree carte > System Preferences > Bluetooth. Hover over the devices you'd like to unpair and click the X icon next to them.

Finally, erase and reinstall macOS.

One time you lot're finished with the necessary steps, you can reinstall a fresh copy of macOS.

Now that all of that is washed, you're finally set to erase your Mac'due south drive and restore information technology back to its factory default settings.

There are a number of ways to get about this, but the easiest is to apply Disk Utility to format your bulldoze and reinstall macOS.

Hither's how to exercise it.

1. Close downwardly your Mac.
2. Turn on your Mac and immediately press and Command and R.
3. You lot may exist prompted to select a user and log in with the countersign for that business relationship.
4. From here, you'll exist presented with a utilities window. Select Deejay Utility.
5. Select Macintosh HD from the sidebar.
6. Click Erase and input a new name and format. For simplicity's sake, you lot tin can leave both to Macintosh HD and APFS or Mac Bone Extended (Journaled).
7. Next, click Erase Volume group. If that isn't an choice, click Erase.
8. If you accept Find My enabled, you'll be prompted to deactivate information technology with your Apple tree ID and password.
9. You may want to delete whatever other internal volumes besides Macintosh HD. Just click the minus icon next to each volume.
10. Finally, quit Disk Utility

Now that your deejay has been erased, you tin select Reinstall macOS (Version Name) from the utilities window.

Once macOS finishes installing, yous'll likely exist faced with a setup assistant. It's at this betoken that you should close down your Mac and exit the setup process to whomever is receiving it.

Source: https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/12/27/how-to-erase-and-prepare-a-mac-for-gifting-recycling-or-selling

Posted by: greenothoung73.blogspot.com

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