If you are planning to give away or sell your old MacBook, Mac Mini, iMac, or Mac Pro then you should be careful to securely erase all data on the device first. Apple’s Erase Assistant can securely delete this data for you, but it does not always work as planned and you may see an an Erase Assistant error.
People choose to buy MacBooks and other Apple computers for a variety of reasons from their renowned keyboards to their focus on style, but one reason that comes up again and again when talking to Apple users is their reliability and durability. Even hardened Windows and Linux users would agree that Apple products just seem to have a longer lifespan than comparable devices from other manufacturers.
Whilst a standard Windows laptop may start to creak after three for four years, an Apple MacBook will generally last five or more years, so whilst they are generally more expensive if you consider the extra couple of years use then you could consider them economical. The longevity can be seen in the number of MacBooks that are five or more years old being sold on eBay or available on refurbished stores like Backmarket, or the number of old MacBooks that end up in the hands of relatives – both old and young.
A five or six year old MacBook Air will still make a great laptop for a relatively light user, and selling it might get you north of £250. Or you might decide to pass it on to a parents, child, niece or nephew as a present. Whatever you decide to do with your MacBook when you you have decided to upgrade, you will want to securely erase all the data from the hard disk. We use our computers for everything these days from internet banking to storing personal photographs, and so nobody wants these to be accessible to the next owner of the laptop. There are a variety of tools, both paid and open source, that will write ones and zeros to your disk over and over again to remove any trace of your data. However, within OSX Apple includes its own program – Erase Assistant – which will do the job for you. And in typical Apple fashion it is simple to use, even for the non-techie crowd.
What is Erase Assistant?
Erase Assistant is built into Apple OSX and available for all Apple silicon or an Intel-based Mac with the Apple T2 Security Chip. It is designed specifically to restore your MacBook to factory settings so that you can safely sell it on to a third party or give it away without any worries that someone might be able to dig up your personal data. Erase Assistant removes your content and settings, and any apps that you installed – so you are left with a device that works as if it was new.
What does Erase Assistant do?
Erase Assistant will sign you out of any Apple services, such as iCloud, turn off Find My device and activation lock, and erases all your content, settings, and data. It also erases all volumes on the devices hard disk, both hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs), including any other volumes on the disk including those for Bootcamp if you are also running Windows on the device.
How to erase your Mac
The first thing to do is make a backup of everything you might want off the device, and then make a second copy and store it off-site either in the cloud or at another location – you can never be too well prepared!
- Once you have completed your backups, click the Apple menu > System Settings, and then click on General in the sidebar.
- Click Transfer or Reset and then Erase All Content and Settings
- Enter your administrator details and click Unlock and then review the items to be removed and click Continue to follow the on-screen instructions.
Why might Erase Assistant not work?
There are a variety of reasons why you might see an Erase Assistant error, but the most common issues faced by Mac users include:
You are using an old version of OSX – if you MacBook supports a more recent version of the operating system then updating might get Erase Assistant working again.
You are using a customised version of OSX – you should reinstall OSX with default settings to regain the ability to use Erase Assistant.
Your user account does not have administrator access – it is generally good security policy to use a user account that does not have admin privileges for your day-to-day computing. However, you will need to be using an administrator account to secure delete all the data on the device. Log out of your account and log in again with the administrator details to be able to use Erase Assistant.
Not enough disk space – Many features do not work properly if you device’s hard drive is full. It is always best practice to leave a few gigabytes free to make sure your programs, including Erase Assistant, will work as expected.
What should you do after using Erase Assistant?
Once you have used Erase Assistant, your device will be restored to factory settings and you should be safe to sell on or give away the device. Don’t recreate any accounts or try to log back into the device – shut the lid, package it up, and move on.