Securely erase your hard drive with Disk Utility. Before Lion, you had to boot from a CD or DVD system disk or a third-party utility, like Disk Warrior, or from an external drive with OS X installed.

• Feb 09, 2020  If your Mac is running Mojave or Catalina, they will look slightly different but the process should be similar. Step 1: Connect your external hard drive. First, use the USB cable (or USB-C cable if you’re on the newest Mac model with Thunderbolt 3 ports) that comes with your external drive to connect that drive to your Mac.
• Jun 16, 2020  Accidentally Erased Hard Drive on Mac. You may use Disk Utility application to perform hard drive partition-related tasks on Mac Operating System, such as to format, repair, erase or create hard drive partitions and end up with an erased hard drive. Moreover, by doing so, crucial data may be deleted by mistake from your Mac.
• The browser history on your Mac computer keeps track of your everyday activities on the internet. There are times when people are advised to erase browser history, it not only can protect your privacy from revealing, but also that can improve the speed of the device.

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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.

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.

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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. 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.

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.

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.

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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. Mac mail won t send.

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.

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Here are instructions on how to use Disk Utility to securely erase a hard drive connected internally or externally to your Mac. These instructions were written for Mac OS X 10.4 to 10.6. The process is very similar on older versions of Mac OS X, but the screens will look a bit different.

[UpdateNov2014: If your Mac has OS X 10.7 or newer installed then Apple didn’t give you an OS X install disc with your Mac. Instead, you can startup your Mac from its Recovery Partition and then use its copy of Disk Utility to securely erase your hard. Click one of the links below to follow the appropriate instructions for the type of hard drive that you have. If you’re not sure which type of hard drive you have, then you most likely have a mechanical, spinning, hard drive.

If your Mac has a mechanical, spinning hard drive and OS X 10.7 or newer then use these instructions.

If your Mac has a solid state drive (SSD), aka Flash Storage, and OS X 10.7 or newer then use these instructions.]

Requirements

You’ll need either the Mac OS X install disk that came with your Mac or another OS X install disk that’ll boot your Mac, such as a retail copy of the Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6 install disk.

I recommend securely erasing a hard drive before you recycle it or give it away. The instructions below include the option to re-install Mac OS X onto the hard drive at the end of the process.

If you’re securely erasing an external hard drive you do not need to use a Mac OS X install disk. Instead, you can simply open Disk Utility which you’ll find in the Utilities folder inside the Applications folder. In Disk Utility, select the external hard drive and then follow the last few steps of these instructions to erase it using one of the Security Options described below.

Background

Technically, it’s not possible to erase or remove data from hard drives. Thus “securely erasing” is a misnomer. Instead, what we’ll be doing is over-writing the data on your hard drive with gibberish, a random string of bits of data. When you securely erase your hard drive you’ll have a choice of how much over-writing you want to do. This process can take many hours if you select the 7-pass overwrite procedure. I recommend starting this process and then letting it run overnight.

• Insert the Mac OS X install disc that came with your Mac.
• Note: The disc will begin the process of installing Mac OS X on your Mac. Whether or not you actually choose to install Mac OS X is your choice, but if you do, you’ll do it after you’ve securely erased your Mac’s hard drive.
• Select your preferred language from the list presented.
• When you see the welcome screen for the Mac OS X Installer, go to the menu named Utilities and select Disk Utility.
• In the left pane of the Disk Utility window, click on the hard drive you want to erase.
• In the right pane of the Disk Utility window, click the Erase tab.
• Click the Security Options button.
• I recommend that you select the 7-Pass Erase options, but you could choose the 35-Pass Erase option. Here’s my description of these options.

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Don’t Erase Data— This option does not provide any security. This option only over-writes the directories on the hard drive. Your files could still be recovered.
Zero Out Data— Provides a pretty good level of security. All of your files are over-written with a string of zeroes. There are forensics utilities that in theory could retrieve some data.
7-Pass Erase— Provides a lot of security. This is considered sufficient by government standards to erase data from a disk. It writes a random string of ones and zeroes over your data files seven times. It may take several hours or more to complete this process.
35-Pass Erase— Provides the maximum amount of security offered. This option takes an extremely long time, possibly more than one day.

• Click the radio button in front of 7-Pass Erase.
• Click OK.
• Click the Erase button next to the Security Options button.
• Confirm you want to erase and the process will be begin.
• If you want to install Mac OS X then go to the Disk Utility menu and select Quit after the erase is complete.
• You’ll be taken back to the Mac OS X Installer welcome window. Click Continue.
• Agree to the software license.
• In the “Select a Destination” window click on the icon for the hard drive which you just erased and then click Continue.
• Click the Install button to start the installation process. Depending upon the speed of your Mac and the version of Mac OS X which you are installing this process could commonly take anywhere from 20-60 minutes.

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Update Oct 2014: In OS X 10.9, Mavericks, the 35-pass erase is no longer an option. Also, there are no longer radio buttons to select how many passes to erase. There is a slider that goes from Fastest to Most Secure.