- How to clean install mac os sierra on ssd how to#
- How to clean install mac os sierra on ssd upgrade#
- How to clean install mac os sierra on ssd software#
- How to clean install mac os sierra on ssd download#
Secure erase one last time, but you shouldn’t need to do it ever again. Wipe first (for reasons as outlined above). With unencrypted data on it, that you now want to re-use and need to securely
This is good advice, but it fails to address the situation where you have a disk
Consider using APFS encryption (FileVault). Strongly-encrypted data can be instantly "erased" by destroying (or losing) the key (password), because this renders your data irretrievable in practical terms. The modern solution for quickly and securely erasing your data is encryption. Modern devices have wear-leveling, block-sparing, and possibly-persistent cache hardware, which cannot be completely erased by these commands. NOTE: This kind of secure erase is no longer considered safe. The diskutil man page offers this warning on the use of diskutil secureErase:
Unless you are setting up a hardened machine where an attacker may have physicalĪccess, it’s probably safe to skip this step. Even then, though, because of the wayĭata are written to SSDs, the original data will quickly become unreadable so However, if reusing a drive that was previously used unencrypted, it mayīe useful to overwrite the free space. The free space on the disk as any data written there will have been encryptedĪnyway. Updated November 2020: Updated for macOS Big Sur's public release.For a drive that has previously been encrypted, it is not necessary to overwrite Questions?Īny questions about performing a clean install? Let us know below in the comments.
How to clean install mac os sierra on ssd software#
How to clean install mac os sierra on ssd how to#
How to clean install mac os sierra on ssd upgrade#
If you don't create a bootable drive for macOS Big Sur, you may have to install an older Mac operating system first and then upgrade to macOS Big Sur afterward. You'll need a copy of macOS Big Sur to perform a clean install later on.
How to clean install mac os sierra on ssd download#
Step 2: Create a bootable drive of macOS Big Surīefore you erase your current operating system, download macOS Big Sur from the Mac App Store.