how to clean up hard drive mac

1. 1

   Make sure that you have a blank DVD available. You'll need to burn a program called "DBAN", which will erase your hard drive for you, onto the DVD, so the DVD must be brand-new.

   • Your computer will need to have a DVD drive for this to work. The easiest way to see if your computer has a DVD drive is by looking for the "DVD" logo on or near the disc tray.

2. 2

   Download the DBAN image file. Go to https://dban.org/ and click Download DBAN in the top-right corner of the window. After a few seconds of waiting, the DBAN ISO file will begin downloading onto your computer.

   • Depending on your browser's settings, you may have to confirm the download or select a save location before the file will actually download.

3. 3

   Insert the blank DVD into your computer. Make sure that the DVD is label side-up.

   • If your computer doesn't have a DVD drive, you'll need to attach an external DVD drive to your computer via USB instead.

4. 4

   Burn DBAN onto your DVD . Once you've done so, you can proceed.

   • Make sure that the DBAN DVD remains in your computer.

5. 5

   Restart your computer. Open Start

   and click Power

   , then click Restart in the pop-up menu.

6. 6

   Open the BIOS. Immediately after clicking Restart, begin repeatedly pressing your computer's BIOS key. This is usually Del or one of the "F" keys (e.g., F2 ), but you can confirm the key that you're supposed to press by checking your computer's documentation online.

   • If you miss your opportunity to access the BIOS, you'll have to restart your computer and try again.

7. 7

   Find the "Boot Order" section. On most computers, you must use the arrow keys to select the "Advanced" or "Boot" tab to do this.

   • Some BIOS models have the boot order options on the initial page on which you arrive.

8. 8

   Select your computer's DVD drive. It should be labeled "CD Drive" or "Disk Drive" (or something similar). Again, use the arrow keys to select the appropriate option.

9. 9

   Move the drive to the top of the boot list. With the "CD Drive" option selected, press the + key until the selected option is at the top of the boot list.

   • If this doesn't work, check the key legend on the right side (or bottom) of the screen to see which key you should press to move the selected option.

10. 10

    Save your changes and exit the BIOS. For most BIOS pages, you'll press a key to do this; check the on-screen key legend to see which key you need to press.

    • On some computers, you'll have to press another key to confirm the changes when prompted.

11. 11

    Wait for the DBAN interface to load. This may take a few minutes.

12. 12

    Select your computer's hard drive. Press the J or K key to move the selection up or down, then press Space once your computer's hard drive is selected.

    • Be sure to check the key legend at the bottom of the DBAN screen to confirm the keys that you use to navigate and select.
    • If you have multiple hard drives (or partitions), be sure to select them as well.

13. 13

    Erase the hard drive. Press F10 (or the key listed in the legend) to do so. Your hard drive will begin erasing.^[1]

    • This process can take several hours, so make sure that your computer is plugged into a reliable power source.

14. 14

    Eject the DBAN DVD when prompted. When you see an ad for Blancco on your screen, you can eject the DBAN DVD and replace it with the Windows 10 installation disk, at which point you can reinstall Windows 10 on your computer.

    • After this step, you may have to press and hold your computer's Power button to turn it off and then press it again to turn back on your computer.
    • If you don't have a Windows 10 CD, you can create an installation tool on another computer first.

1. 1

   Open the Apple menu . Click the Apple logo in the top-left corner of the screen. A drop-down menu will appear.

2. 2

   Click Restart… . It's near the bottom of the drop-down menu.

3. 3

   Click Restart when prompted. Your Mac will begin to restart.

4. 4

   Place your Mac in recovery mode. Immediately after clicking Restart, press and hold the ⌘ Command key and the R key simultaneously until the "Utilities" window appears. At this point, you can release the keys.

5. 5

   Select Disk Utility . It's a grey, hard drive-shaped icon in the main window.

6. 6

   Click Continue . It's in the bottom-right corner of the window.

7. 7

   Select your Mac's hard drive. Beneath the "Internal" heading on the left side of the window, click the hard drive with the "HDD" tag. This is your Mac's main drive.

   • If the drive here is labelled "SDD", follow the instructions for erasing a solid state drive instead.

8. 8

   Click Erase . It's a tab at the top of the window. Doing so prompts a pop-up window to appear.

9. 9

   Click Security Options… . This option is at the bottom of the window.

10. 10

    Click and drag the slider to the "Most Secure" tick. Doing so means that your Mac's internal hard drive will be overwritten with blank information seven times in a row, rendering future data recovery impossible.

11. 11

    Click OK . This is in the bottom-right corner of the window.

12. 12

    Click Erase . It's in the lower-right side of the window. This will prompt the hard drive to begin erasing. Since you chose the "Most Secure" option, this process will take several hours to complete.

    • Consider initiating the erase before going to bed or before leaving for work in the morning. As long as your Mac is plugged in, its battery should be fine.

13. 13

    Click Done when prompted. Your Mac's hard drive is now completely empty with no chance of data recovery.

14. 14

    Quit Disk Utility. Click Disk Utility in the top-left corner of the screen, then click Quit Disk Utility in the drop-down menu. This will take you back to the "Utilities" page.

15. 15

    Select Reinstall macOS , then click Continue . Your Mac's operating system will begin reinstalling. Once it finishes, you'll be able to follow the on-screen instructions to set up your operating system.

1. 1

   Open the Apple menu . Click the Apple logo in the top-left corner of the screen. A drop-down menu will appear.

2. 2

   Click Restart… . It's near the bottom of the drop-down menu.

3. 3

   Click Restart when prompted. Your Mac will begin to restart.

4. 4

   Place your Mac in recovery mode. Immediately after clicking Restart, press and hold the ⌘ Command key and the R key simultaneously until the "Utilities" window appears. At this point, you can release the keys.

5. 5

   Select Disk Utility . It's a grey, hard drive-shaped icon in the main window.

6. 6

   Click Continue . It's in the bottom-right corner of the window.

7. 7

   Select your Mac's solid state drive. Beneath the "Internal" heading on the left side of the window, click the drive with the "SSD" tag. This is your Mac's main drive.

   • If the drive here is labelled "HDD", follow the instructions for erasing a hard drive instead.

8. 8

   Click Erase . It's a tab at the top of the window. Doing so prompts a pop-up window to appear.

9. 9

   Click the "Format" drop-down box. You'll find this on the right side of the page. A drop-down menu will appear.

10. 10

    Click Mac OS Extended . It's in the drop-down menu.

11. 11

    Click Erase . This is in the bottom-right corner of the window. Your Mac's hard drive will begin erasing its own contents. This process can take some time, so it's best to do this before going to bed or work—just make sure that your Mac is plugged in so that its battery doesn't die while you're gone.

12. 12

    Click Done when prompted. Your Mac's SSD is now empty.

13. 13

    Quit Disk Utility. Click Disk Utility in the top-left corner of the screen, then click Quit Disk Utility in the drop-down menu. This will take you back to the "Utilities" page.

14. 14

    Select Reinstall macOS , then click Continue . Your Mac's operating system will begin reinstalling. Once it finishes, you'll be able to follow the on-screen instructions to set up your operating system.

    • Since your Mac's SSD stores information differently than a traditional hard drive, this process is enough to ensure that no one can access your old files.

Add New Question

• Question

  What does it mean to reformat a drive?

  

  To reformat a hard drive means that it is reset into a new format, which is the style of how the information is stored. Usually you don't need to do this, but some operating systems request a certain format.

Ask a Question

200 characters left

Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.

Submit

• If you don't have any time to clean the hard drive using software, the U.S. Department of Defense recommends drilling holes through the physical hard drive itself.

• You don't have to erase SSDs the way that you have to erase traditional hard drives because SSDs store data differently.

• Never attempt to secure-erase a Solid State Drive. Because of the way that SSDs are structured, doing so will severely reduce the SSD's lifespan.

About This Article

Article SummaryX

1. Download the DBAN image file.
2. Burn it to a blank DVD.
3. Boot from the DBAN DVD.
4. Select the hard drive you want to delete.
5. Select Start.

Did this summary help you?

Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 33,016 times.

Is this article up to date?

how to clean up hard drive mac

Source: https://www.wikihow.com/Clean-a-Hard-Drive

Posted by: colemansirep1991.blogspot.com

Share this post