Best method to Purge older iMac before donating it?

[drgrafix]

I have too many computers and I mainly use my Retina 5K 27-inch 2017 Mac which is running Mojave10.14.6 because I refuse to upgrade my Adobe CS6 to a subscription. Anyway, I also have an older iMac (Intel based) 24" that I want to give away (if I had any local takers), but I want to completely and thoroughly purge the machine so that no programs, no personal or financial data are left behind. Is there an easy to understand method/process to blank this Mac and still leave it with a working OS? I have to do this with an older Shuttle PC as well but want to do the Mac first. Thanks in advance for your help.-Mike

 

[Raz0rEdge]

What to do before you sell, give away, trade in, or recycle your Mac - Apple Support

Reset your Mac to factory settings to prepare it for a new owner.

support.apple.com

 

[Rod]

Do remember as per the instructions above to make a backup. You would be surprised how often you remember something that was unique on that device after it's gone. I usually perform a clone using say, Carbon Copy Cloner, this is free to try and will make a perfect working copy of your device which for the purposes of viewing od restoring files is easy to navigate and accessible on your other devices whereas a Time Machine backup may not be.

 

[Slydude]

These two gentlemen have given you excellent advice as usual. They have, however, neglected a couple of important questions :

1. Is the '69 Camaro reference in your signature fully operational? If so,
2. Why are you behind a computer screen instead of sporting that machine around town?

 

[lucy12345]

To wipe your older iMac and reinstall macOS:

• Back up your data.
• Sign out of iCloud, iTunes, and other services.
• Restart your iMac and hold Command (⌘) + R to enter Recovery Mode.
• Open Disk Utility, erase the hard drive, and choose APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
• Close Disk Utility and select Reinstall macOS from the macOS Utilities window.
• Follow the instructions to reinstall macOS.

The iMac will either start with the setup screen or you can complete the setup for the next owner.

 

[drgrafix]

I

To wipe your older iMac and reinstall macOS:

• Back up your data.
• Sign out of iCloud, iTunes, and other services.
• Restart your iMac and hold Command (⌘) + R to enter Recovery Mode.
• Open Disk Utility, erase the hard drive, and choose APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
• Close Disk Utility and select Reinstall macOS from the macOS Utilities window.
• Follow the instructions to reinstall macOS.

The iMac will either start with the setup screen or you can complete the setup for the next owner.

I seem to be having a problem signing out of iCloud, iTunes, and any other services. The Mac OS Apple icon only has "System Preferences" not System Settings. I haven't used this older Mac in a year, so how would I know that its logged in to anything? I have removed all pictures and other files I wanted to save. You might have to walk me through the reinstall process. Do I remove myself from the users and groups first? TIA-Mike

 

[MacInWin]

I

I seem to be having a problem signing out of iCloud, iTunes, and any other services. The Mac OS Apple icon only has "System Preferences" not System Settings. I haven't used this older Mac in a year, so how would I know that its logged in to anything? I have removed all pictures and other files I wanted to save. You might have to walk me through the reinstall process. Do I remove myself from the users and groups first? TIA-Mike

What to do before you sell, give away, trade in, or recycle your Mac - Apple Support

Reset your Mac to factory settings to prepare it for a new owner.

support.apple.com

Read that. It has instructions on what to do, even with older versions like your Mojave. Just follow the instructions carefully and you should be good to go.

EDIT: IN re-reading your OP, the version on that old machine may be even before Mojave, but the article should still be good.

 

[Rod]

I'm not sure what you mean, "I seem to be having a problem signing out of iCloud" if you mean finding where to do that here is an explainer for Catalina; How to sign in and sign out of iCloud on macOS Catalina and above

 

[drgrafix]

I'm not sure what you mean, "I seem to be having a problem signing out of iCloud" if you mean finding where to do that here is an explainer for Catalina; How to sign in and sign out of iCloud on macOS Catalina and above

The Mac I want to sell/giveaway is a 2007 24" Mac with a 2.8Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, 6 GB of RAM. The OS is El Capitan 10.11.6 so anything relative to system preferences for Maojave and newer might not (probably doesn't) work.

 

[MacInWin]

The link I posted will cover that version.

 

[lucy12345]

I seem to be having a problem signing out of iCloud, iTunes, and any other services. The Mac OS Apple icon only has "System Preferences" not System Settings. I haven't used this older Mac in a year, so how would I know that its logged in to anything? I have removed all pictures and other files I wanted to save. You might have to walk me through the reinstall process. Do I remove myself from the users and groups first? TIA-Mike

1. Sign Out of iCloud: Open System Preferences, click on Apple ID/iCloud, and select Sign Out.
2. Sign Out of iTunes: Launch iTunes, go to Account in the menu bar, and click Sign Out.
3. Remove User Account: In Users & Groups, unlock the settings, select your account, and click the - button to remove it.
4. Reinstall macOS: Restart your Mac, hold Command + R to enter Recovery Mode, and choose Reinstall macOS.

Make sure to back up any important data first!

 

[drgrafix]

The link I posted will cover that version.

I don't think so. But I'm willing to try anything. Right now, I have backed up anything of value to me, most of which was old iTunes music and images from photo-stream. All I seem to be able to do is open Disk Utility, and it shows the HDD, but Partition, Erase, and Unmount are all greyed out and can't be used. Only First Aid and Info are clickable. There's got to be a way to erase everything and reinstall the clean fresh OS right?

 

[MacInWin]

I don't think so. But I'm willing to try anything. Right now, I have backed up anything of value to me, most of which was old iTunes music and images from photo-stream. All I seem to be able to do is open Disk Utility, and it shows the HDD, but Partition, Erase, and Unmount are all greyed out and can't be used. Only First Aid and Info are clickable. There's got to be a way to erase everything and reinstall the clean fresh OS right?

Did you read this part of the article I linked? Did you follow any of the links in that section?

Use Erase All Content and Settings​

Erase All Content and Settings is a feature that makes it easier to reset your Mac to factory settings. Your Mac has this feature only if it’s using macOS Monterey or later and is a Mac with Apple silicon or a Mac with the Apple T2 Security Chip.

If your Mac has this feature, you don’t need to follow the other steps in this article. Instead, learn how to use Erase All Content and Settings.

Did you see this step, with the link?

6. Erase your Mac​

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Start up from macOS Recovery, then use Disk Utility to erase your Mac. For details about both of these actions, follow these steps: Use Disk Utility to erase an Intel-based Mac.
3. When done, quit Disk Utility but don't restart your Mac.

From your screenshot, you have selected Macintosh HD as the highlighted item, which is NOT the hardware but just a part of the hardware, basically a partition. To get the Partition, Erase, and Unmount un-greyed, you have to select the actual hardware you want to partition, erase and format. It is best done from Recovery, as you cannot erase the drive from which you are booted, which is what the instructions say to do. Once in Recovery, use Disk Utility to select the hardware, not the partition, to erase and format, then reinstall the OS to make the machine bootable again. It's all in the link I sent, really.

 

[IWT]

I agree, Jake. It couldn't be easier to set up the Mac for a new owner. You've shown the Headings to use. It used to be much more tedious.

Ian

 

[pm-r]

OT here, but is there some explanation as to why the OP's icon is not showing with the OP designation with their post #12 to be the normal way these days to designate the original poster of the message thread?:

Most other threads seem to be working as they should or is there something Goofy on my iMac?

This is how their icon appears on my iMac.


- Patrick
=======

 

[Jimmysb]

OT here, but is there some explanation as to why the OP's icon is not showing with the OP designation with their post #12 to be the normal way these days to designate the original poster of the message thread?:

Most other threads seem to be working as they should or is there something Goofy on my iMac? View attachment 39762

This is how their icon appears on my iMac.


- Patrick
=======

I am getting it okay:

 

[MacBiter]

I don't think so. But I'm willing to try anything. Right now, I have backed up anything of value to me, most of which was old iTunes music and images from photo-stream. All I seem to be able to do is open Disk Utility, and it shows the HDD, but Partition, Erase, and Unmount are all greyed out and can't be used. Only First Aid and Info are clickable. There's got to be a way to erase everything and reinstall the clean fresh OS right?

OT here, but is there some explanation as to why the OP's icon is not showing with the OP designation with their post #12 to be the normal way these days to designate the original poster of the message thread?:

Most other threads seem to be working as they should or is there something Goofy on my iMac? View attachment 39762

This is how their icon appears on my iMac.


- Patrick
=======

Do you mean when you reply to the OP ? as you can see above, I don't get their icon attached to the reply, but I never have.

 

[MacInWin]

I don't see the banner, either.

 

[drgrafix]

Did you read this part of the article I linked? Did you follow any of the links in that section?

Did you see this step, with the link?

From your screenshot, you have selected Macintosh HD as the highlighted item, which is NOT the hardware but just a part of the hardware, basically a partition. To get the Partition, Erase, and Unmount un-greyed, you have to select the actual hardware you want to partition, erase and format. It is best done from Recovery, as you cannot erase the drive from which you are booted, which is what the instructions say to do. Once in Recovery, use Disk Utility to select the hardware, not the partition, to erase and format, then reinstall the OS to make the machine bootable again. It's all in the link I sent, really.

OK, it looks like I got to the point where it supposedly erased everything, but that happened in like a minute or less... is that normal? And then I got to the screen where I'm prompted to install a new version of OS X and in this case, its El Capitan, installed to the 500GB internal HDD. I tried to proceed, get the I agree to the terms prompt, and when it tries to install I keep getting an Unexpected Error when Signing In window. What am I doing wrong or what is the hardware/software problem? Thanks so much for the help on this.-Mike

 

[MacInWin]

That is a very unhelpful error message. I would suggest contacting Apple support. Go to Apple.com, click on the "Support" button on the top menu bar and at the bottom of the screen you should see how to reach them. I have used both calls and chats with success.