Any recommendations for software to completely wipe the hard drive?

[snerkler]

I’m going to be selling my 5k iMac but want to make sure the drive is completely wiped and no passwords etc can be retrieved. My understanding is that disk utility isn’t sufficient to wipe the drive to this extent so I’m looking for some software that can do this and wondered if anyone has any recommendations please? If I wipe the hard drive this way how easy is it to reinstall iOS after wiping like this, is it just as easy as installing after a basic erasure?

Any help will be appreciated.

 

[chscag]

How to reset and prepare your Mac before selling it.

 

[snerkler]

How to reset and prepare your Mac before selling it.

Thanks for this. Does this completely erase everything then? I thought erasing like this just erased the file system and cleared space but data can be recovered by special recovery programs and you need a program that writes 1’s and 0’s over the entire drive to ensure it’s totally clear?

 

[26139]

Thanks for this. Does this completely erase everything then? I thought erasing like this just erased the file system and cleared space but data can be recovered by special recovery programs and you need a program that writes 1’s and 0’s over the entire drive to ensure it’s totally clear?

That's what this does, completely erases the hard drive.

If you're worried, re-format it a few times.

 

[Phil77354]

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065

"What to do before you sell or give away your Mac"

This provides Apple's official recommendations, not only to wipe the hard drive but also create a backup and sign out of accounts.

 

[snerkler]

That's what this does, completely erases the hard drive.

If you're worried, re-format it a few times.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065

"What to do before you sell or give away your Mac"

This provides Apple's official recommendations, not only to wipe the hard drive but also create a backup and sign out of accounts.

Great stuff, thanks for the help, much appreciated.