These options are not needed for an SSD drive because a standard erase makes it difficult to recover data from an SSD. With an SSD drive, Secure Erase and Erasing Free Space are not available in Disk Utility. You’ll also want to read “ OS X: About Disk Utility‘s erase free space feature.” A note at the end starts to get to the heart of the matter. However, that Apple article skips over the nuance of completely erasing an SSD.

“ What to do before you sell or give away your Mac.” Item #6 in that document launches the discussion and links to a pretty good article: “ How to reinstall macOS.” That article, by the way, has a nifty table that summarizes which versions of macOS you can install from the recovery partition. The first thing to do is read Apple support article. You’ll want to securely erase that SSD, but it’s a bit tricker than a plain hard disk. These days, because SSDs have been an option for Macs for almost a decade, it’s very likely that you have, or will soon have, a Mac for sale that boots from an SSD. Securely erasing a hard disk isn’t hard to do, and it’s been discussed in many places. Back when I did that last, the Mac had a hard disk. It’s been awhile since I sold an old Mac. In which case, erasing all content and settings will wipe the problem away.If you’re planning to sell a Mac that boots from an SSD, or you have an old Flash drive or SSD you want securely erase, this article has the details. However, sometimes a particularly stubborn piece of malware can prove impossible to remove. Security tools built into macOS have grown quite effective at safeguarding your system. Related: Signs It’s Time to Replace Your Mac Erasing all content and settings in macOS securely wipes the device but leaves the operating system intact, so the Mac is ready for the new owner to set up once you’ve handed it over. Failure to do so could mean the new owner can gain access to your private data and personal information. If you’re giving your Mac to someone else, erasing all the content and settings beforehand is highly recommended.

You’re giving or selling your Mac to someone else.

Here are some common reasons to erase all content and settings:

You may experience several situations in which factory resetting your Mac is necessary. Let’s examine the new addition in more detail.

How to reset my macbook air to sell