Reformatting a Mac Mini

[kena1921]

Hi

Due to upgrading hardware I am planning to sell my late 2012 Mac Mini> My question is what do I need to do to wipe all data on there - eg the equivalent of a Windows reformat. Also will I have to reinstall the OS (as of course I don't have disks for it).

Many thanks

Ken

 

[Weaselboy]

You Mini what is called Internet recovery and the OS can be downloaded directly over the Internet.

First follow the steps here.

Then hold command-option-r (all three keys at once) when booting. You will be asked to join a network then you will see a spinning globe while the recovery console downloads. Once that is done you will see the recovery screen.

From the recovery screen go to the Utilities menu and launch Disk Utility. Select your drive band name (like Seagate 1TB or whatever) at the top above Macintosh HD and erase the drive in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format.

Then quit Disk Util and click reinstall OS. This will DL the ~5GB OS over the Internet and install it without your AppleID or any of your personal info. This will restore to the OS version that came from the factory even if perhaps you upgraded later.

Lastly, you want to reset the NVRAM for your machine following this, as the wifi password you entered to do the resort is retained there.