How to master reset a Mac is a very common question that many Mac have, especially before selling their Mac or handing it over to somebody else. It is always safe to remove the personal data before selling your Mac so that no one else can access your data. Also, a clean Mac OS X looks better to the buyer. So, how to restore macbook pro or Macbook Air is a very important topic that the Mac users keep searching on the internet. By following our guide you can easily restore Mac to factory settings without any hassle and without the help of any technician. Factory reset will bring your Mac to the same state as it was when you bought it, by wiping all the data.
If you want to use Back to my Mac software to transfer files, click here. The method is provided with step by step process.
Steps To Restore Mac To Factory Settings
Before you proceed with the factory reset procedure, make sure that your Mac is connected to the Internet so that you can download the latest Mac OS X copy.
Clone The Hard Drive Of Your Mac
Restore Mac to factory settings wipes out all the data, so the data should be transferred from the old Mac to some other place so that you can restore your new Mac. The best idea is to make a clone of the whole hard drive and keep it safe for the time being, later you can restore your new Mac. For that you can use SuperDuper orCarbon Copy Cloner program with an external storage (hard drive). Choose the main hard drive in Source and external hard drive in the Destination. Now, you will have to click on Clone button, which is placed at the bottom right corner.
Later, you can boot from the cloned hard drive (external). To make sure that this is possible, reset your Mac and keep holding the Option while booting. Select external drive using the arrow keys on your Mac and hit Enter.
You can re-clone the cloned drive to the main drive if you want to restore your Mac or access the files from your computer after the data is removed from the internal hard drive.
The next step is to de-authorizing from iTunes to remove the connection between your computer and iTunes account. Maximum of five Macs that are locked to your iTunes account can be used to play movies and music. For that, launch iTunes > Store > De-authorise this Computer. Provide your Apple ID, password and then click on De-authorise.
Turn FileVault Off
FileVault encrypts all the files on the hard drive, it is suggested to turn this option off before you proceed with thefactory reset macbook pro as security is not a concern here. To turn this option off, head to System Preference > Security & Privacy > FileVault. Now check if it says FileVault is off for the main drive, if not, then you have to click on the padlock icon which you will find at the bottom left. Type in your password and click Unlock. Next, you have to click on the option Turn Off FileVault.
Image source – www.macworld.co.uk
Deactivate ICloud
From System Preference, click on iCloud and hit Sign Out Now. “Delete from Mac” needs to be clicked on to erase all your personal data.
Restart Your Mac Into Recovery Mode
We already mentioned before that you have to stay connected to the Internet during the whole process because Mac OS X needs to be installed from the Internet. Click on Apple, then Restart. Now hold down the R keys and command until you see the Recovery Mode Utilities Window.
Click Continue after selecting Disk Utility. Choose the main Startup Volume and click on Unmount. Select Erase tab and then click Erase in order to clean the hard drive. After this step is finished, select Disk Utility and click Quit Disk Utility to exit the program.
Image source – apple.stackexchange.com
Install Mac OS X
Now ‘Re-install Mac OS X’ needs to be clicked on and continue. A blank copy of Mac OS X Mavericks will be downloaded and installed on your Mac. No need to enter the Apple ID, password and also skip the set up process. The person, who will buy this Mac, can do the rest.