How do I wipe my Mac hard drive completely?

For Mac users, the following steps show you how to wipe your hard drive clean.

Restart your Mac.
Hold down the Command + R keys while your Mac is restarting.
Click Disc Utility.
Click View > Show All Devices.
Select your Mac’s drive and then click Erase.
Click Erase and fill in the name, format, and Scheme.

Does erasing Mac hard drive erase everything?

Make a backup of any files that you want to keep. Erasing your Mac permanently deletes its files.

How do I permanently delete files from my Mac before selling?

Shut down your Mac, then turn it on and immediately press and hold these four keys together: Option, Command, P, and R. Release the keys after about 20 seconds. This clears user settings from memory and restores certain security features that might have been altered.

What is best format for Mac external hard drive?

HFS+ (Mac OS Extended Journaled) is the best format for an external or portable hard drive you’re only using on a Mac. Or sharing with a Mac. APFS is a format option for external drives on Macs running MacOS 10.13 or later.

Should I format external hard drive for Mac?

If you intend to use your external drive to move files between Macs running different OS versions, it is recommended that you format your drive in HFS+ instead.

How do I reformat an external hard drive?

To reformat a drive on Windows:

Plug in the drive and open Windows Explorer.
Right-click the drive and choose Format from the drop-down menu.
Select the file system you want, give your drive a name under Volume label, and make sure the Quick Format box is checked.
Click Start, and the computer will reformat your drive.

Why I Cannot delete files from my hard drive on Mac?

Why Can’t I Delete a File or Folder from External Hard Drive on Mac

Permission Issue of Mac. The permission settings on your Mac define who has access to your files.
External hard drive contains an unsupported file system, like NTFS.
External Hard Drive Connection Issues.
Viruses and Malware.

What format does Mac use for external hard drive?

You need to format the external hard drive with the file system that is recognized by Mac. The supported file systems include Apple File System (APFS), Mac OS Extended (HFS+), MS-DOS (FAT), and exFAT. You can use the Erase function in Disk Utility to format the storage drive to your needed format.

How do I reformat an external hard drive on Mac?

How to format an external drive in OS X

Connect the drive to the Mac.
Open Disk Utility.
Select the drive you want to format.
Click Erase.
Give the drive a descriptive name and leave the default settings: OS X Extended format and GUID partition map.
Click Erase and OS X will format the drive.

How do you repair a hard disk on a Mac?

Go to Applications > Utilities and double-click Disk Utility to launch it.

In the top left corner of the window,click View and choose View all devices.

In the sidebar,select a disk or volume.

Click First Aid.

Press Run then Continue.

How to free up storage space on your Mac?

Method 1: Optimize Storage and Uninstall Apps.

Method 2: Free Up Space by Removing Duplicate Files.

Method 3: Empty Your Trash to Free up Space on Your Mac.

Method 4: Freeing Up Space Using DaisyDisk.

Method 5: Free Up Space by Storing Files in iCloud.

Method 6: Clean Out Your Downloads Folder.

How to repair a Mac disk with Disk Utility?

To start in Recovery Mode press cmd+R when you start up your Mac. We have a detailed tutorial on using Recovery Mode here.

Once your Mac has booted up you will see a Utilities screen. Choose Disk Utility.

Select the disk you wish to repair from the menu and clink on First Aid.

The repair process may take a while.

How to reset your Mac to factory settings?

If you used Boot Camp to install Microsoft Windows,use Boot Camp to remove Windows and its partition before continuing.

From the Apple menu  in the corner of your screen,choose System Preferences.

From the System Preferences menu in the menu bar,choose Erase All Content and Settings.