9 Things To Do Before Selling Your Mac.
If you are planning to sell your Mac, you probably don’t want the buyer to have access to your data and information available on your computer. Therefore, you need to get rid of the data stored on your Mac before giving it away.
This erasure procedure basically involves deleting your data from your Mac and completely deauthorizing all of your accounts. This way, the new owner of your Mac won’t have access to your data and won’t be able to recover anything.
Then they can set up the Mac with their account and data. The following article outlines nine things you should do before selling a Mac. Also, be sure to check out our previous post on 5 Things You Should Do Before Selling an iPhone.
Create a backup of your Mac
The first thing you need to do before selling your Mac is to create a full backup. This way, when you get a new Mac, you can easily recover all your data with a few clicks.
Your Mac allows you to back up your files in a variety of ways. Most of you will prefer the Time Machine method because it’s built right into macOS and is a fairly straightforward way to create backups.
Create a Mac backup with Time Machine
- Plug – to an external Mac drive that will be used to store Mac files.
- Click the Time Machine icon in the menu bar and select the option labeled Time Machine Preferences.
- When it opens, click “Select Backup Drive” to select your drive.
- Click your drive in the list and then click the Use Drive button below.
- To start backing up your machine, click the Time Machine icon in the menu bar and select Back Up Now.
You will receive a notification when the backup is ready.
–
Back up your Mac to iCloud
Another option for backing up your files is to use a service like iCloud. This will allow you to recover files on any iCloud-enabled device.
- Launch a Finder window and click iCloud Drive in the left sidebar.
- Open another Finder window and drag all the files you want to back up to the first open window.
You will need to wait until the files are uploaded to iCloud Drive.
Revoke your Mac license in iTunes
If you’re still using the version of macOS with the iTunes app, you’ll need to deauthorize the Mac in the app. Basically, it tells iTunes that you will no longer be using this app on this device.
- Launch iTunes in any way you like on your Mac.
- Click on the account in the menu at the top, select “Authorize” and click “Unauthorize this computer”.
- You will be prompted for your Apple ID credentials. Enter your username and password and click Cancel Authorization.
Sign out of iCloud on your Mac
You will need to turn off Find My Mac and sign out of your iCloud account.
- Click the Apple logo in the upper left corner and choose System Preferences.
- Click iCloud on the next screen to manage iCloud settings.
- Uncheck Find My Mac to disable this feature.
- Click the Sign Out button in the left sidebar to sign out of your iCloud account on your Mac.
- When asked if you want to save a copy of your iCloud data to your Mac, select Save A Copy. You will still erase your drive in one of the sections below.
Sign out of iMessage
Another thing you will want to do before selling your Mac is log out of the iMessage service as well as on your Mac.
- Click Launchpad in the Dock, find messages and click on it.
- When it opens, click the Messages menu at the top and select Settings.
- Select the Accounts tab to view a list of accounts. Then click on your iMessage account in the left sidebar and select Sign Out in the right pane.
Remove Paired Bluetooth Devices
If you have any Bluetooth devices saved on your Mac, you want to clear them as well.
- Click the Bluetooth icon in the menu bar and select Open Bluetooth Settings.
- Right-click each device and select Uninstall. The device is removed from the list.
Disable FileVault on Your Mac
You want to decrypt the contents of the drive by disabling FileVault.
- Click on the Apple logo at the top and select “System Preferences.”
- Click on the Security & Privacy option.
- Select the FileVault tab and click Disable FileVault.
Sign out of your other accounts
You can sign out of your other accounts such as Google Drive, Dropbox, Skype and other apps.
Finding the exit parameter in most applications should be easy. All you have to do is click on that option and you’re done.
Erase Your Mac Drive
The most important thing to do before selling a Mac is to erase all content from disk so that a new buyer can’t access your data. You will need to do this in recovery mode on your Mac.
- Restart your Mac, press and hold Command + R as the Mac starts to boot.
- Select Disk Utility from the options available on your screen.
- Select your primary Mac hard drive and click the – (minus) icon in the toolbar. Proceed to remove the disc.
- Select your primary Mac hard drive and click the Erase button at the top.
- Enter a name for your disk and click “Erase”. It will start erasing the contents of your disk.
Reinstall macOS on your Mac
Finally, you want to install a fresh version of macOS on your Mac.
- Boot your Mac into recovery mode by pressing Command + R while the Mac is at the boot screen.
- Select “Reinstall macOS” on the screen.
- After installing macOS, press Command + Q and shut down your Mac. Don’t get started with the setup so the new buyer can set it up with their account.
Your Mac is now ready for sale.
–