How to format a disk on a macbook. How to Completely Erase Your Mac Hard Drive

If you are going to sell your Mac or often work with files and documents, then you are interested in keeping your data securely hidden from third parties. However, even the complete deletion of files cannot provide a high degree of protection for them, since they still remain on the hard drive until the free space is completely filled. This means that by complex (and not so) manipulations, information can be restored.

To prevent this from happening, after deleting such files, it is necessary to clean up the free space of the hard disk. Fortunately, in OS X, the built-in "Disk Utility" is responsible for this operation, with which we are already. This time we will again resort to her help.

To launch Disk Utility, you need to go to the Utilities section of your Mac programs and select the appropriate application. Then select the "Erase" tab - the button "Erase free space" will appear in the lower left corner. This is where the fun begins.

OS X provides three methods of erasing, which differ not only in speed but also in the degree of data protection.

The fastest

Selecting this option will automatically overwrite unused disk space with zeros. It takes the least time and provides an acceptable level of security.

Golden mean

This option provides a fairly high level of security when erasing data. It is also called the "seven-pass cleaning" method.

The "Seven Pass Clean" option complies with DoD 5220.22-M. This standard says three passes, but Disk Utility does the passes seven times.

Most secure

As you already understood, this method will protect your data much better than its predecessors. Space clearing occurs in 35 visits: in other words, data is written over the disk 35 times.

I would recommend the second option - your files and documents will be reliably protected from recovery, and you won't have to wait several hours. Of course, if you want to play it safe, it is better to use the third method.

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We received the following question:

Hello.
The other day I thought about changing my Macbook Pro 2011 to Macbook Air 13.
I like everything in principle, but here is the question.
How to prepare a laptop for sale, in particular, the question is this.
After all, MAC OS is installed on my APPLE ID, but I will not sell with my ID.
So what happens, how to prepare the system? remove it?
Thanks in advance

Hello!

Of course, you need to sell the MacBook cleared of all information with a newly installed system, this is in the interests of both the seller and the buyer. But reinstalling the system for many Mac drivers looks like some kind of super-complex operation, although in fact everything is very simple. A lot of wrong rumors are going around about the system of automatic system recovery via the Internet that appeared a few years ago. For some reason, it is generally accepted that the system is tied to an Apple ID, and it will no longer be possible to download it from another account. This is completely false.

The free copy of Mac OS X that anyone who owns a Mac is entitled to is tied to a hardware hardware ID, which, of course, doesn't change from one owner to another. Therefore, both you and the future buyer will always be able to restore the system via the Internet, regardless of the Apple ID.

Preparing your MacBook for sale comes down to several steps:

first of all, make sure that there is no valuable information left on the Mac, otherwise it will not be possible to save it (only through Time Machine)
restart your computer. Once the screen goes blank, press and hold Cmd+R on your keyboard until you see the apple logo with a swirling daisy at the bottom
instead of the usual Mac OS X, the shell of the recovery partition will boot:

launch Disk Utility from the menu that appears
on the left, select the partition with OS X (usually it is called Macintosh HD), on the right, go to the "Erase" tab and click the button of the same name on it
at the end of the process, your Mac will be almost completely clean. "Practically" - because the recovery partition from which you booted will remain intact
close Disk Utility. You will be taken back to the recovery utilities selection menu
select "Reinstall OS X"
The Mac will prompt you to connect to the Internet (if it can't do it itself) and check the hardware ID against a database on Apple's servers
then the download, unpacking and installation of the system will begin

At the end of the process, your Mac will look exactly like it did when you first turned it on after you bought it from the store. There will be no trace of your Apple ID left on it.

But there are two more important things:

Every Mac also comes with a free copy of iLife (iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand). Unlike the system itself, these apps are tied to the Apple ID of the computer that first signed into the Mac App Store. It will not be possible to transfer them to another account later, so the next buyer will not get them
do not repeat the most popular mistake when reinstalling the system. Many people forget to deauthorize their computer from the iTunes Store. You can download content from the iTunes Store and the App Store on up to five computers linked to the same iTunes Store account. If you sell a Mac that is not disconnected from your account, you will lose one of the five slots. Of course, you can reset all occupied slots once, but you can do this once a year (). To deauthorize a computer, launch iTunes, select Store-Deauthorize This Computer from the top menu, and enter your iTunes Store and App Store account username and password.

As you can see, preparing your MacBook for sale is a matter that requires minimal intervention on your part.

Most users understand how the process of formatting a hard drive, removable drives, memory cards on a computer is carried out. However, the same task provokes a kind of stupor if the MacBook is in the hands.

There is an algorithm for how to format a hard drive on a MacBook.

Sometimes it is quite useful to format a drive, completely clearing its space. And also at the time of formatting, you can perform additional useful manipulations, in particular, split the hard drive into several sections. In addition, when performing such tasks, you can change the format of the hard drive, which is positively reflected in the performance of the device.

Formatting methods

We invite you to consider the sequence of actions that lead to a positive result. However, before proceeding with the procedure, it is important to figure out which format would be preferable for you. For MacBooks, we recommend using a format such as Mac OS Extended, although if you really need to format your hard drive or removable drive in a different format, this option also exists. In particular, you can give preference to such formats as FAT, NTFS.

Formatting algorithm

Open the "Programs" section initially, then go to the "Utilities" subsection. There you will find the "Disk Utility" option, double click on it.

After that, a window will open, in its left part those disks that can be subjected to the format change process will be displayed. Select your drive by clicking on it once. Now in the main window, go to the second tab "Erase". It will also contain a small instruction that allows you to figure out what steps and in what sequence you need to perform to format your MacBook Air hard drive.

In the "Format" line, specify the format that you prefer. To do this, click on the arrow indicating the opening of the existing list. From the list that opens, select the option you need. In most cases, it is still recommended to choose Mac OS Extended, since it is this format that allows the device to work quickly. On the second line, enter the name of your drive that you currently want to format.

If you are no longer pursuing any tasks, then click on the "Erase" button located at the bottom of the window. The process will start automatically and in a few minutes the hard drive will “shine clean” on your device.

In some cases, it is very important to erase all the information stored on your Macbook without the possibility of its further recovery. If you have such goals in front of you, then we suggest you use the "Security Options" button. After clicking on it, new options open up before you, including the choice of the number of repetitions for deleting content.

ADVICE. Technically, you can "force" the system to subject the disk to the process of erasing information up to 35 times. Such actions are resorted to by those users who decide to sell their gadget, so they are worried that the new owner will not be able to use the personal information of the previous owner.

It is important to take into account one more technical secret. In particular, it is also possible to format the disk on which the operating system is installed on the MacBook Air, but to do this, you must first cause the system to reboot, and at the time of its next start, hold down two buttons at once: Cmd and R. In this case, the system will boot into standby mode, so it will allow you to format the system disk.

And you can also use a button such as "Erase free space". In this case, the erasing process will not apply to the entire disk, but only to its unoccupied part.

Division into sections

If you want to not only format the disk, but also partition it, then you will have to perform slightly different steps. In particular, splitting a disk into several separate partitions is especially useful when the hard disk is large. In this case, you can not only split the disk, but also format each partition in different formats, expanding the possibilities for further use of the device.

To perform such tasks, you will have to go to the third tab "Disk Partition". Of course, you will need to specify the desired format for each section, then click on the "Apply" button.

It is important to understand that after the formatting process is completed, the disk will be completely freed from all information, including the operating system. Accordingly, in order to ensure the further operation of the laptop, the OS must be reinstalled.

Electronics manufacturers are trying in every possible way to convince us that we live in a world of wireless technology. However, nothing is better than the old proven flash drive.

For fast data transfer from one device to another, for communication on different operating systems, for reliable data storage, it is still convenient to use external storage devices.

The only problem is to properly format the flash drive or disk. Now we will tell you how to make sure that both macOS and Windows can work with such a flash drive without problems in the future.

Which file system to choose

Among the many existing file systems at the moment, the most popular are considered to be: FAT32, NTFS, exFAT, APFS (Apple File System), HFS+ (Mac OS Extended).

Out of the box Windows fully supports FAT32, NTFS and exFAT, and macOS– FAT32, exFAT, HFS+, and APFS (with macOS High Sierra and above).

Using third-party drivers and utilities, you can teach Windows to work with HFS + and APFS, or add NTFS support to macOS.

Attention! When formatting a flash drive or other drive, all data on it will be deleted, save everything you need in advance.

The solutions available today are very different in terms of stability and data transfer speed. In order not to load the system with unnecessary software and not waste time when copying or transferring files, it is better to use a file system that is supported by both Windows and macOS.

The choice is between FAT32 and exFAT.

The main disadvantage of FAT32 is the file size limit. On such a disk will not work write file size over 4GB. Given the presence of large databases, backups, projects or video files, it is better not to be tied to the outdated FAT32 file system and choose exFAT.

How to format a flash drive in macOS

1. Launch the application disk utility across Spotlight or Launchpad.

2. In the left pane, select the drive you want to format.

3. Click the button Erase.

4. Specify file system exFAT and confirm the action.

How to format a flash drive in Windows

1. Open File Explorer.

2. Select the drive you want to format.

3. In the context menu, select Format…

4. Specify file system exFAT, set other formatting options as needed.

5. Confirm the procedure.

A finished flash drive in exFAT format will be recognized by both a Windows computer and any Mac. In this case, it will be possible to both read data from the drive and write to it without a file size limit of 4 GB.

In the modern world, everyone knows what a flash drive is, and uses it, if not daily, then very often. Sometimes flash drives have to be formatted in order to get completely clean media and do it quickly without deleting files and folders one by one.

To get a blank flash drive in Windows, just click the "Format" item in the context menu and wait for the process to finish, but on Mac OS this item is not in the context menu. As a result, new users of Apple's operating system often have a question - how to format flash drive on mac?

This is not much more difficult to do than on Windows, and this instruction will convince you of this.

To get a formatted flash drive, you do not need to install any additional programs and perform complex actions - everything is much simpler. The algorithm of actions is the following.

1. Connect the flash drive to a computer running Mac OS

2. Find and open the program "Disk Utility". This program is installed by default on all computers with Mac OS. To do this, press the keyboard shortcut ctrl+space and in the Spotlight popup window, start typing the title "Disk Utility" or just open this program via Finder -> Programs -> Utilities -> Disk Utility.

3. In the Disk Utility window that opens, locate your flash drive on the left. On the right side, open the tab "Erase", select the file system format and the name of the flash drive and click the button below "Erase".