MP 1,1-5,1 How to wipe a boot SSD on MacPro 5,1 running Mojave 14.6

[arlenesey]

I would like to sell my mid 2012 Mac Pro, that I upgraded with a Radeon RX580 graphic card (and went through all the firmware update rigamarole) therefore making it possible to update to Mojave 10.14.6.
This is the end of the line - I am not doing the Catalina update and all that entails. I threw in the towel and bought a new iMac.
My problem: I could move all my data successfully, and reformatting the two HDD I have installed on the old machine was not a problem. However, trying to wipe the SSD Boot drive is proving to be a nightmare.
From what I have read, because of the way SSDs store data, you can't just erase and restore:
Intego recommends using FileVault to encrypt the disk, then do a basic erase.
On this particular installation, however, FileVault will not work with the SSD.
There are a couple of workarounds, but they exceed my pay-grade.

Is it possible to create a second bootable drive from one of my internal HDDs, then boot using that one? I tried removing the SSD and doing a download of Mojave, but all I got was a black screen.
I am stuck. If anyone has a suggestion, thank you.

 

[Snow Tiger]

Remove your SATA SSD drive from your System , connect it to an USB to SATA adapter cable , plug it into any Mac's USB port , open disk utility , select the drive , click the erase tab and choose your level of security . Even one time zeroing out is an excellent choice . Apple is not fond of users zeroing out solid state .

 

[h9826790]

I would like to sell my mid 2012 Mac Pro, that I upgraded with a Radeon RX580 graphic card (and went through all the firmware update rigamarole) therefore making it possible to update to Mojave 10.14.6.
This is the end of the line - I am not doing the Catalina update and all that entails. I threw in the towel and bought a new iMac.
My problem: I could move all my data successfully, and reformatting the two HDD I have installed on the old machine was not a problem. However, trying to wipe the SSD Boot drive is proving to be a nightmare.
From what I have read, because of the way SSDs store data, you can't just erase and restore:
Intego recommends using FileVault to encrypt the disk, then do a basic erase.
On this particular installation, however, FileVault will not work with the SSD.
There are a couple of workarounds, but they exceed my pay-grade.

Is it possible to create a second bootable drive from one of my internal HDDs, then boot using that one? I tried removing the SSD and doing a download of Mojave, but all I got was a black screen.
I am stuck. If anyone has a suggestion, thank you.

If you mean "how to securely erase a SSD, therefore, the buyer cannot recover any data from it?".

As long as TRIM is enabled. After you format the SSD, and leave it idle for a few minutes. GC will follow the TRIM's order to clear all the cells. Therefore, no data can be recovered (even in a lab).

This is the reason why macOS default won't give you the zeroing option. Because that's not required, but only burn the SSD's life span unnecessarily.

Anyway, TRIM won't work via USB. So, to make sure TRIM can function properly, you may simply connect the SSD to the optical bay's SATA port.

If there is already no OS on the cMP. You can boot the macOS installer, and use disk utility at there. Then run disk aid to manually TRIM the SSD once.

Or simply download Gparted (Linux, free to use), burn a LiveCD. You can then simple hold C to boot from this CD on cMP. Then format the SSD at there.

 

[arlenesey]

Thanks for the suggestions! So many options!

I will be able to connect the SSD to my MacBook with USB-C ports. I did not set up TRIM at purchase, because I didn't know about it. I did use a utility called "Disk Sensei", but not sure if this did the same thing.

I guess I was concerned because I have tried removing the SSD and booting into recovery mode, but all I got was a black screen. I had turned off WIFI before this so Adobe products wouldn't be seen.

Now I have turned WIFI on again, reformatted one of the hard disks to APFS and removed the SSD. I will try again with Command + Option + R. The firmware update I did last year should still be there I guess.

I will not erase/reformat the SSD until I can successfully boot the cMP from a regular hard disk.
The most important goal is getting the Mac Pro to boot again. If I can't reinstall the SSD because I can't successfully and completely erase it, it would be sad but not the end of the world.

 

[MarkC426]

Your black screen is probably due to the RX580 (Non efi gpu).
If you still had mac gpu you could put that back in.

You should be able to run the Mojave installer from the ssd system and select a hdd as location.
Then shut off, remove ssd (keep this) and boot to fresh install.

 

[h9826790]

Thanks for the suggestions! So many options!

I will be able to connect the SSD to my MacBook with USB-C ports. I did not set up TRIM at purchase, because I didn't know about it. I did use a utility called "Disk Sensei", but not sure if this did the same thing.

I guess I was concerned because I have tried removing the SSD and booting into recovery mode, but all I got was a black screen. I had turned off WIFI before this so Adobe products wouldn't be seen.

Now I have turned WIFI on again, reformatted one of the hard disks to APFS and removed the SSD. I will try again with Command + Option + R. The firmware update I did last year should still be there I guess.

I will not erase/reformat the SSD until I can successfully boot the cMP from a regular hard disk.
The most important goal is getting the Mac Pro to boot again. If I can't reinstall the SSD because I can't successfully and completely erase it, it would be sad but not the end of the world.

You mixed up lots of things here.

1) This whole topic is firmware independent.

2) TRIM is an OS function, nothing about "at purchase"

3) Boot to recovery partition on the cMP is Command + R, not Command + Option + R (or you talking about your Macbook?)

4) This whole topic has nothing about Wifi

5) This whole topic is not related to "formatted another hard drive into APFS"

6) If all you want now is just boot the cMP, that's simply. Please do the following

6a) Connect your SSD to the Macbook​

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6b) On the Macbook, boot to desktop, download and launch macOS installer​

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6c) select that SSD at the target drive​

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6d) After installation complete. Shutdown the Macbook, remove the SSD, and connect the SSD to the cMP​

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6e) Boot the cMP normally​

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7) AFAIK, Disk Sensei can turn on TRIM, and manually TRIM a SSD. Which should be effectively the same as secure erase a SSD (if the SSD itself is completely empty).

 

[arlenesey]

Yes, I have probably mixed some things up, or maybe my explanation is at fault.

Your answers have been helpful - thank you. Even if I did not follow your instructions, your comments have helped me to search further.

This is what finally worked for me:

I decided, since I am selling this Mac Pro, and don't really care if the SSD has a long life or not, to follow the instructions given by Apple here to erase the startup disk.
Then I tried reinstalling Mojave 10.14.6 per Wifi. I got to the point where it states that Mojave needs new firmware, did the firmware update as instructed onscreen, but my Mac Pro went dark after that.
I dug around and found this further suggestion:

I doubt this is a firmware issue, as you were already in the installation phase. The firmware flash would have happened prior.

Take out the NVMe drive and just put back in your High Sierra SATA drive. Take out all other drives (and PCIe cards except for the GPU). Then do a full SMC reset and PRAM reset.

SMC: Shut down and pull out the power cable. Leave it unplugged for a minute or two and then plug back in
PRAM: Plug in a USB keyboard if possible. Power on the cMP and as soon as you hear the chime, hold down the Command+Option+P+R keys on the keyboard. The screen will stay black. Keep them held down until you hear the machine chime again. If you don't hear a second chime then turn it off and try it again.

See if that helps.

I did not remove any hardware, but did the SCM and PRAM resets. Then I tried starting the machine again with an install USB inserted and pushing the option key.

I was able to reinstall Mojave, and the machine works.