Erasing old MacBook Pro hard drive

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OnceBitten

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#300667 26-Sep-2022 21:25

Ok so as mentioned here https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=47&topicid=296226&page_no=4 we got a new Macbook Pro and I've set it all up and transferred everything from the old MacBook over and it's all running fine - new MacBook Pro is great

I've followed the process to erase the data from the old MacBook and it all worked (I think), so I turned on the old MacBook to see what would happen and all that comes up is the grey screen with a flashing question mark folder - is this normal?

I'm not sure if that's what's supposed to happen or not

Can someone let me know if this is 'normal or if something else is supposed to happen?

I intend to sell the old MacBook, so I'd like to know if I've done everything correctly before I list it for sale

If someone can let me know if I've done everything correctly that would be great

thanks in advance

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#2973274 26-Sep-2022 21:33

Yep, everything including the operating system is gone.

You can reboot it holding down command-r

That will either boot from the recovery partition (if there is one) or from Apple servers and install a new OS for you

OnceBitten

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#2973277 26-Sep-2022 21:38

sir1963:

Yep, everything including the operating system is gone.

You can reboot it holding down command-r

That will either boot from the recovery partition (if there is one) or from Apple servers and install a new OS for you

thanks for that - so if someone buys it, turns it on and presses command-r it won't restart / recover it with all our stuff on it or anything?

I'm just paranoid that someone might restart it and be able to recover all our old files and access everything

RunningMan

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#2973310 27-Sep-2022 07:27

How to do it will depend on the Macbook model. Do you know the exact model or the model number?

OnceBitten

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#2973313 27-Sep-2022 08:00

RunningMan:

How to do it will depend on the Macbook model. Do you know the exact model or the model number?

No - sorry I don't... it's a MacBook Pro and we bought it new about Mid 2012

RunningMan

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#2973318 27-Sep-2022 08:43

In that case, should be able to treat it as an Intel based laptop.

Here's the list of things to do when you get rid of a Mac - you're probably up to number 7 & 8 now. https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT201065

Number 7 is erasing your Mac (which you've probably already done, given it won't boot). Further to the linked article, if it has an old mechanical hard drive, there will be additional options to securely erase the drive - when you select those, it can take several hours to erase the drive. That isn't mentioned in the article, but given the age of the machine, it will probably be there. Sounds like you may have missed step 10 though, which is reinstalling the OS. https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT208496

Then go back and reset the NVRAM - number 8 in that first article, and you should be done. The laptop will start up like a new one for the next owner.

OnceBitten

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#2973357 27-Sep-2022 10:07

RunningMan:

In that case, should be able to treat it as an Intel based laptop.

Here's the list of things to do when you get rid of a Mac - you're probably up to number 7 & 8 now. https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT201065

Number 7 is erasing your Mac (which you've probably already done, given it won't boot). Further to the linked article, if it has an old mechanical hard drive, there will be additional options to securely erase the drive - when you select those, it can take several hours to erase the drive. That isn't mentioned in the article, but given the age of the machine, it will probably be there. Sounds like you may have missed step 10 though, which is reinstalling the OS. https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT208496

Then go back and reset the NVRAM - number 8 in that first article, and you should be done. The laptop will start up like a new one for the next owner.

thanks for that - yes I've done 7 & 8.... I did not know there was a step 10 though.

as mentioned above I did step 8 and when I turned it back on it came up with a flashing question mark

I'll have to look into re-installing the OS then, so I'll try that at home tonight

Edited to add

I did do https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT208496 and erased the hard drive

but it looks like I might have to do this https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT204323 to restart / reinstall the OS?

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RunningMan

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#2973369 27-Sep-2022 11:03

Yep, step 10 from this one https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT208496 is resintall the OS - without that, it won't boot again.

OnceBitten

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#2975003 29-Sep-2022 20:51

RunningMan:

Yep, step 10 from this one https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT208496 is resintall the OS - without that, it won't boot again.

Ok thanks - so I've tried re-installing the OS and it wants to install OS X Mountain Lion, but when I click to agree to the T&C it then says

"Select the disk where you want to install OS-X" - but no disk or anything comes up, so i am unable to proceed

does anyone know what I'm doing wrong or what else I can try??

Sorry - I'm not sure what to do next

CYaBro

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#2975010 29-Sep-2022 21:13

It’s been a while but you should be able to get into the Disk Utility app from the menu.
You might need to format the drive to get it visible again for the install.

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lxsw20

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#2975011 29-Sep-2022 21:14

Yes thats the issue. Go out of the installer, open Disk Utility and follow:

How do I use Disk Utility to reformat my hard drive?

https://appletoolbox.com/how-to-install-macos-or-os-x-on-a-new-hard-drive-for-your-mac/#Format_your_new_hard_drive_for_macOS_or_OS_X

OnceBitten

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#2975064 29-Sep-2022 21:33

lxsw20:

Yes thats the issue. Go out of the installer, open Disk Utility and follow:

How do I use Disk Utility to reformat my hard drive?

https://appletoolbox.com/how-to-install-macos-or-os-x-on-a-new-hard-drive-for-your-mac/#Format_your_new_hard_drive_for_macOS_or_OS_X

ok thanks for that - I've gone into disk utility and this is what comes up (see pic)

I'm not sure what disk in the toolbar on the left I should be clicking on to erase

sorry for all the questions, but I want to make sure I do this correctly and don't stuff anything up

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#2975086 29-Sep-2022 23:01

The top one - 500GB Apple HDD

Don't install anything newer than High Sierra - otherwise it will make it run like a dog. APFS on spinning HDDs is not a good thing.

froob

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#2975115 30-Sep-2022 07:17

RunningMan:
Number 7 is erasing your Mac (which you've probably already done, given it won't boot). Further to the linked article, if it has an old mechanical hard drive, there will be additional options to securely erase the drive - when you select those, it can take several hours to erase the drive. That isn't mentioned in the article, but given the age of the machine, it will probably be there.

Since it looks as though your machine does have a mechanical hard drive, just reiterating this point from RunningMan above - you should use the secure erase function on your drive before you reinstall MacOS. Without this, unless your drive was encrypted, the next owner could recover some of your deleted data.

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OnceBitten

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#2975266 30-Sep-2022 09:42

lxsw20:

The top one - 500GB Apple HDD

Don't install anything newer than High Sierra - otherwise it will make it run like a dog. APFS on spinning HDDs is not a good thing.

ok thanks for that - I'll try that tonight

Can I choose what OS to install? - because when initially tried it last night it only came up with Mountain Lion - didn't give me options to choose another OS

lxsw20

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#2975587 30-Sep-2022 16:23

You'll have to install ML first, then upgrade from there.

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