This guide is crafted for those who are newer to the Terminal or just want a little more guidance with it. I’m going to take this step-by-step and walk you through what each command does so you can understand it. Lastly, I’m going to show you how to do a more secure erase if you need to do that. I’m going to show you how to locate the disk you want to erase, unmount that disk, and then erase that disk in a particular format. And, if nothing else, it’s a good tool to keep in your back pocket. After that, you’ll be able to rock the new freshly installed OS X.While the Terminal may not be the first thing you think about using when manipulating disk, it can give you more options and control over your disks.

It can take a while, might want to play some Angry Birds for a while or grab a beer!Īfter the reinstall, you or the new owner will need to go through the setup process, transfer files, connect to WiFi…etc. You’re Mac will restart a few times automatically while everything is erased and reinstalled. Now you can kick back and wait while OS X reinstalls. If you only have one drive, it will be selected for you automatically.īefore OS X installs, you’ll need to log in to your Apple Account. Now agree to the terms of service for the software license.Īfter that select the hard drive you want to install OS X on. Click Continue at the bottom, and on the message that comes up, click the Continue button.

Next you’ll get the OS X Mountain Lion screen.

Reinstall Apple OS X Mountain LionĪfter that’s done, go back to OS X Utilities and this time highlight Reinstall OS X and click Continue. This does a similar job of securely erasing your drive as DBAN for Windows. If you want to be extra secure, select Security Options, then select 7-Pass Erase, which meets the US Department of Defense 5220-22 M standard. That will erase all data and reformat the hard disk. Select the local drive and click the Erase tab, Format should be set to Mac OS Extended (journaled), the click the Erase button. Start your Mac and hold down the Command + R key combination. Note: I started by selling my iPad 3, and if you’re selling yours, check out my article on how to erase your data and reset it.

How to erase mac pro