How do I completely erase a hard drive on a Mac?

How to Wipe a Mac With an M1 Chip

1. Turn on your Mac and continue to press and hold the power button until the startup options window comes up.
2. When the Utilities window appears, select Disk Utility.
3. In the sidebar, choose Macintosh HD.
4. Click the “Erase” button, then select a file system format and enter a name for it.

How do I format my hard drive and reinstall macOS X?

Restart your Mac. Choose Apple menu > Shut Down, press and hold the power button until “Loading startup options” appears, select Options, click Continue, then follow the onscreen instructions. In the Recovery app window, select Reinstall for your macOS release, click Continue, then follow the onscreen instructions.

How do I restore my Mac to factory settings?

How to Factory Reset a Mac or MacBook (macOS Monterey)

1. Click the Apple icon in the menu bar (top-left corner).
2. Select System Preferences from the drop-down menu.
3. Select ‘Erase All Contents and Settings. ‘
4. Enter your password, select ‘OK. ‘
5. Select the ‘Erase All Content & Settings’ button.

How do I reset my external hard drive to factory settings?

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.

How do I wipe my Mac and start fresh?

Turn on your Mac 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.

How do I format a Mac?

Hold down the Command and R keys as soon as you hear the Mac tone indicating a reboot. Wait for the macOS Utilities screen to appear, then click Disk Utility. Choose your Mac’s system drive, usually named Macintosh HD, then click Erase. Select the Format option Mac Extended (Journaled) or APFS.

How do I factory reset my iMac 2011?

After the iMac shuts down completely but before it begins to restart, hold down the Command (⌘) and R keys at the same time. The Mac will display the macOS Utilities menu, from which you can reinstall Mac OS.

How do I completely wipe a hard drive?

How to completely wipe a hard drive

1. Step 1: Back up your hard-drive data.
2. Step 2: Don’t just delete files from your computer.
3. Step 3: Use a program to wipe your drive.
4. Step 4: Physically wipe your hard drive.
5. Step 5: Do a fresh installation of the operating system.
6. DBAN.
7. Destroy the hard drive.

How do I wipe my hard drive and start over?

Go to Settings → Change PC Settings → Update and Recovery → Recovery. Under “Remove everything and reinstall Windows,” click “Get started,” then click “Next.” Select “Fully clean the drive.” This takes longer, but it’s the most secure option. Click “Reset” to start the process.