I am preparing to sell my 2010 mac pro. I have a 240gb ssd as the boot drive in bay 1 that i want to include with the sale. II also have a 1tb hd in bay 2. I wiped the 1tb drive in bay 2 with disk utility secure erase. Next i restarted the mac with my lion installer usb stick holding down option and selected the installer. I want to securely wipe my ssd first before installing Lion but whenever i select the drive in disk utility, the "security options" are grayed out and cant get into it. How do i securely erase my ssd boot disk then reinstall lion through the usb install flash drive? Thanks for any help
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Need help reinstalling OS to sell Mac Pro
- Thread starter SteelBlueTJ
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I'm not 100% you need to or can securely erase a ssd...
But lets say you can...
Can you securely erase you 1tb drive from the USB Disk Utility? If so you could do this: Install on the 1tb disk. Boot up with the 1tb disk and then securely erase your other drive with it's Disk Utility. Now reboot with the USB and securely erase the 1tb disk and install onto the SSD.
If you had Trim enabled then its pretty much a step you dont need to take. Its very very difficult to recover SSD data after formatting.
http://hetmanrecovery.com/recovery_news/vosstanovlenie-informacii-s-ssd-nakopit.htm
I would just set up a fresh partition on the SSD and install away.
http://hetmanrecovery.com/recovery_news/vosstanovlenie-informacii-s-ssd-nakopit.htm
I would just set up a fresh partition on the SSD and install away.
Thanks. Yea i was just concerned with keeping my personal info secure after i pass it off to a new owner. I did a simple reformat already on it which wiped it, but just couldnt select the security option. So I guess it should be safe to just install the os and there wont be any chance of someone recovering my info?
My other thought was to just keep the ssd and sell the mac pro with the original 1tb hd. Do you think selling it with the 240gb ssd would increase resale value much? Or is like selling a car where you typically dont get back what you put into it?
My other thought was to just keep the ssd and sell the mac pro with the original 1tb hd. Do you think selling it with the 240gb ssd would increase resale value much? Or is like selling a car where you typically dont get back what you put into it?
Not really. You can get 240ssd drives for < $150 now, so a used one doesn't add too much value IMO. Some people stay away from used SSD for the fear of performance degradation over time. And many people looking for used Mac Pro's are looking to pimp it out themselves. If you have a good use for it or were planning on buying another one anyway, I would just keep it.
Yea I think I'll just hang onto the SSD.
Also, I wiped the original 1TB drive awhile back and reused it for my media files back when I first installed the SSD as my boot drive. So the original Lion recovery partition is long gone. So I went into the App store and redownloaded Lion 10.7 (which is what the machine shipped with). I made my own Lion install USB flash drive and did a clean install the OS that way. I shut off the Mac when it got to the Welcome screen. That way the new owner can set it up as if it was brand new. Does this sound correct?
Also, I wiped the original 1TB drive awhile back and reused it for my media files back when I first installed the SSD as my boot drive. So the original Lion recovery partition is long gone. So I went into the App store and redownloaded Lion 10.7 (which is what the machine shipped with). I made my own Lion install USB flash drive and did a clean install the OS that way. I shut off the Mac when it got to the Welcome screen. That way the new owner can set it up as if it was brand new. Does this sound correct?
Yep... that will work.
The only issue I can see is if the new owner ever goes to reinstall the OS from the recovery partition, he will be asked for an AppleID (yours) and not having one that was used to purchase Lion... he will be in a pickle.
You might want to make this clear to the buyer so they don't find out two days after they purchase and hammer you on eBay feedback.
The new buyer can call 1800MYAPPLE and for $20 Apple will sell him a code he can redeem in the App Store to DL Lion.
Can I download the OS X Recovery assistant from Apple's website, save the Lion installer to a USB stick on my macbook air and then use that USB stick to reinstall Lion on my Mac Pro? Would that method be any better so its not tied to my Apple ID? Surely this situation has to have come up before with MP owners. I just want to securely reinstall Lion so the new owner can start it up as it was new, but not have it tied to my Apple ID.
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Well I just tried what you said to see if I got prompted for a apple ID and password. I booted into the Recovery partition and selected install OS X Lion. It then asked for an internet connection so I plugged in an ethernet line. Then it "verified computer eligibility" and began downloading from the internet. It says it will take over 3 hours to download and install Lion. Will this create a more clean install versus the Mac App Store USB stick method?
If you erase Macintosh HD before the install, it is a clean/fresh install the same as doing it from the USB key. Either method will require an AppleID for a reinstall later.
What happens when you start that install is Apple's servers look at your serial number to see if the machine came with Lion/Mt. Lion. If it did, you will get the OS DL free. If it did not, you will be asked for the AppleID used to purchase the OS from the App Store.
It is odd you are not being asked for the AppleID. You normally only get the free install without AppleID if the machine came with Lion, and being a 2010 model, yours would not have.
This is an issue that keeps coming up with selling machines that have been upgraded to Lion/Mt. Lion. The upgrade belongs to your AppleID and technically you can't give it away with the machine. That said, it is not like Apple has the Apple Police out looking for people who have violated the licensing agreement in this way. The only snag is like I mentioned, the new owner will be disappointed if they ever try to reinstall.
To really be totally legal you should fresh install from the DVD that came with your Pro. I assume that was a Snow Leopard installer.
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There is no way around having the enter an AppleID at reinstall from recovery. However, if you do that yourself and just quit at the end when the setup wizard starts, it would be like turning on a new machine to the new owner.
The new owner will only ever have an issue if they do a command-r and erase then try to reinstall.
My mac pro never came with any install dvd. Sorry i should have mentioned that first. I bought it last summer from Apples refurbished store. It shipped with Lion 10.7. But didnt come with any physical media.
Ahhh.... interesting. This explains it.
Normally a 2010 would not have come with Lion, but it looks like Apple tied your serial number to Lion as a refurb so you are good to go.
Forget everything I said!
With your machine tied to Lion like this a new user could reinstall all they want without an AppleID since the Lion install is tied to the serial number.
That explains why you are not being asked for an AppleID when you are reinstalling. This is good.
As soon as I saw 2010 I assumed it came with Snow Leopard and you paid for the Lion update in the App Store. This is the first I have heard of a refurb getting Lion tied to it like this. Better all around for you.