How To Clear Hard Drive Mac

If you want to erase any other type of storage device: Double-click Disk Utility in the /Applications/Utilities folder. Choose View Show All Devices. In the sidebar, select the storage device you want to erase, then click the Erase button. Click the Scheme pop-up menu, then choose GUID Partition Map. Erasing external Mac hard drive or internal Mac drive volumes is as easy as pie! Just open Disk Utility, choose a Mac drive volume, and click ‘ Erase. Alternatively, you may open the Finder app, explore the files in the Mac volumes, and erase as many files as you want. Mar 01, 2011 Why you need to erase your hard drive/SSD. When you empty your trash bin on your Mac, the files are not really erased. Instead, the reference to the file is removed from the file system (which keeps a list of all the files on your computer), so the computer is able to write new information in the same physical area when space is needed.

• How To Wipe Computer Clean Before Selling
• How To Clear Space On Your Mac Hard Drive

July 13, 2020

30 days of FREE* comprehensive antivirus, device security and online privacy with Norton Secure VPN.

*Terms Apply

You want to donate or recycle your old computer gear, but there's something you have to do first — wipe your hard drive. That means clearing out all your personal information.

You may think that's not a lot of stuff, but your old devices probably hold a ton of information. Your medical records, browser history, login info for your bank account, past emails — all that information about you that accumulates on a device.

It's not enough to simply delete old files. Why? The delete button doesn't actually delete.

How To Wipe Computer Clean Before Selling

Your personal information will be retrievable on a computer's hard drive unless you take steps to wipe the hard drive clean. If you don't, the files are there for the taking. Anyone with recovery software and bad intentions could access them and put your privacy and the security of your personal information at risk.

How to completely wipe a hard drive

Follow these steps to ensure you're truly wiping your hard drive clean. They'll help keep you from passing on or losing your documents, photos, passwords, financial information, and personal data when you say goodbye to your old device.

Step 1: Back up your hard-drive data

Before you wipe your computer's hard drive or do a factory reset, make sure to back up all of your information to your new computer, an external hard drive, or a web service.

Backing up your data regularly is a smart way to keep your data safe. Hard drives can crash, get lost, stolen, or encrypted by ransomware software. The best defense is to make sure all the data is backed up safely and frequently.

You can back up your data on thumb drives or USB flash drives. But keep in mind these are small storage devices and may not accommodate all the data from your PC. External hard drives can offer more storage. You can also transfer your data to another laptop or PC.

'Cloud backs' are another option. They're safe and one of the most convenient ways to store data. Here's how it works.

First, you create an account and complete the initial setup. Next, you enable the storage of your data to the cloud — a network of remote servers. There's no physical location for the backed-up data. So the risk of it getting stolen or destroyed by things like floods or fires is mitigated. Plus, the files are encrypted. That makes it difficult for cybercriminals to access or steal your information.

The importance of data backup

It's a good idea to make backing up data a part of your cyber hygiene. If you happen to lose your data due to a hardware defect or ransomware attack, having a backup could be the respite you're looking for.

Step 2: Don't just delete files from your computer

You might think moving your documents to the trash or recycle bin and emptying it will do the trick. Maybe not. This action appears to delete the files, but often leaves them where they were, hidden from view. Most data recovery programs can actually recover these hidden files.

Here's why. Mac os patch tool. When you empty files from the trash or recycle bin, the file name or the reference to the deleted file is erased. The computer can no longer see the file.

This means the space the file took up on the laptop or PC is no longer reserved for that file. But the file is still in the hard drive. It will stay in the hard drive until its location is given up for a new file to be stored in that exact location.

Data recovery software is capable of rebuilding the file header. This makes it possible for the computer to see the file again. Clone mac hard drive carbon copy.

Here's the risk. When your files are not deleted completely from the hard drive, cybercriminals can run data recovery software to access your deleted files.

Law enforcement agencies use data recovery software to access deleted files from confiscated computers. Cybercriminals can use the same tools and techniques to commit identity theft.

Step 3: Use a program to wipe your drive

Special software programs can permanently erase your hard drive. There's little chance you can get any data back. Similarly, no one else will be able to use data recovery software to recover your files.

Most programs run a low-level format that overwrites all the deleted files with zeros and other incomprehensible data. This makes it impossible for data recovery software to recover the files.

DBAN is a free data destruction program* that completely erases files on a hard drive. This includes all personal files, operating systems, and installed programs.

How To Clear Space On Your Mac Hard Drive

It's smart to use a program to wipe your device. Most products offer proof of erasure. Some even provide information about what was done to the drive and its data. This helps when wiping a company laptop or PC.

Step 4: Physically wipe your hard drive

If you want to double-ensure your hard drive is wiped, you can take additional measures. For instance, you can physically wipe the drive. Just remove your hard drive and take a rare earth magnet to it. Another option? Physically dismantle it with a screwdriver.

A rare earth magnet, like the neodymium magnet, can be used to deform the metal plates in the hard disk. This makes it unusable. One warning: The magnets are powerful and can cause physical harm if used incorrectly.

A safer method might be using a screwdriver to dismantle the pieces of the hard drive to make it useless.

Step 5: Do a fresh installation of the operating system

There's another way to completely rewrite over the whole hard drive. That's by completing a clean installation of the original operating system that came with the computer. This can be especially important if you're giving the device to someone like a friend or family member.

What are the risks of not wiping my hard drive?

As the line between the real world and digital world blurs, it's smart to understand how cybercriminals work. A security product like Norton Security Premium helps protect your personal PC files, financial information and your family's devices. But when you discard your device without properly wiping the hard drive, you run the risk of losing your data.

Cybercriminals value your personal data — such as your email address, passwords, Social Security number, driver's license details, and credit card information. They could sell the information on the dark web.

Cybercriminals can buy the information and launch cyberattacks to commit other kinds of crimes like identity theft and extortion. They could open bank accounts in your name, purchase items with your credit card information, or take out loans and default on them, leaving you with the consequences.

Thieves also look for private and confidential information. This may include non-disclosure agreements, personal photographs, private chat conversations, and other details you may not want to expose. If a hard drive wasn't wiped clean, cybercriminals could retrieve this information to blackmail the owner of the content.

Types of data deletion

No matter what kind of data you had on your computer before you decided to donate or recycle it, it pays to play it safe.

Remember, deleting your files from the recycle bin or trash doesn't mean the file is gone from your device. It only means its location is available. Data recovery software can easily find those files in your hard drive.

Here are a few ways to wipe your hard drive like the pros and avoid the risk of someone accessing your old data.

1. DBAN

Short for Darik's Boot and Nuke, DBAN* uses a random number generator that wipes and overwrites everything on the drive several times. Every file that has been deleted now has the new number assigned to it. This makes it impossible for data recovery tools to access it. This tool is useful if you plan to sell, donate, or recycle your computer or laptop.

2. Destroy the hard drive

A sure way to completely destroy the hard drive is to make it physically impossible to access the disks. This can be done by dismantling the pieces of the hard disk with a screwdriver and using a hammer to scratch and mangle the disk. The goal is to make sure the disk will not work when it is loaded into another hard drive. A powerful rare earth magnet can also be used to destroy the platter in the hard drive.

How Norton Utilities can help wipe your hard drive

Your PC is likely packed with personal files. It's wise to keep all that information secure and private. Norton Utilities is a handy tool that keeps your PC running like new. It fixes common issues that slow down or crash your PC. It also frees up space by finding duplicate files and unused applications.

It's commonplace to store personal files on your PC. Now it's easy to keep your digital life private. Safely dispose of personal documents, so no one can access them. Think of it as a digital shredder. Norton Utilities helps keep what you do on your computer private. It can permanently erase all record of your computer and web-based activities to help protect your privacy.

It also safely disposes of personal documents permanently and renders them inaccessible. Most of all, it maintains your digital privacy by erasing your recently opened files and website browsing history.

There's a lot you can do to help protect your personal information if you take the right steps before disposing of your old computer.

30 days of FREE* comprehensive antivirus, device security and online privacy with Norton Secure VPN.

*Terms Apply

Disclaimers and references:

* The inclusion of websites, links, or programs here does not imply endorsement or support of any companies, materials, products and/or providers listed herein.

Copyright © 2021 NortonLifeLock Inc. All rights reserved. NortonLifeLock, the NortonLifeLock Logo, the Checkmark Logo, Norton, LifeLock, and the LockMan Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of NortonLifeLock Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and other countries. Firefox is a trademark of Mozilla Foundation. Android, Google Chrome, Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google, LLC. Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc. Alexa and all related logos are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Microsoft and the Window logo are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. The Android robot is reproduced or modified from work created and shared by Google and used according to terms described in the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution License. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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 Terminal

Start off by running the following command in the command line: Diskutil list

How 2 screenshot on mac. This is going to list all the mounted drives on your Mac.

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'. 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