


The restoration will consist mostly of reinstalling applications and transferring files from the external drive to your Mac. Most of your time will be spent downloading files for preparation and transferring files to and from your external hard drive. You might accidentally erase very valuable files like pictures and videos, if you don’t plan your reformat.

One thing to keep in mind is that reformatting is something you have to carefully plan. Just print it out, tick each box and you’re good to go.Įxternal hard drive to use with Time Machine backupīonus: Dropbox, iCloud or any other cloud storage you use. We also have a checklist for you to use that you can download here. If you are planning to reformat your Mac, we recommend you save / bookmark this post. How to Factory Reset Your MacBook Before Selling or Giving it Away Restore your factory settings and reinstall macOS Make a Time Machine backup of your files, apps, and settings on an external hard drive or save your data in Dropbox or iCloud. Reformatting your Mac requires careful planning. Quick Summary To Erase And Reinstall macOS This erase process requires some careful planning to protect your data, but we have prepared a simple to follow checklist that will walk you through the entire process. Before you say goodbye to one of your Apple devices, you need to factory reset your machine, erase all your personal data, and reinstall a fresh copy of the operating system. If you are ready to sell, trade, or give away your Mac, then it is time to reformat. Perhaps you have a new Mac (like a new Apple silicon based Mac), and it is time to pass on your old computer to a new owner. There are many legitimate reasons to reformat your Mac. But if you need to, hold the fn key down as you clean the F keys so you don't trigger the special functions.Don’t worry if it is time to start over. Depending on your settings, the F keys shouldn't do anything in TextEdit. There shouldn't be a problem except with the F1 keys. So go across each row and wipe each key, keeping an eye on TextEdit to make sure it is still the frontmost app and still taking all of the presses. The other way is to just thoughtfully clean each key while you have an app like TextEdit open to absorb those presses. The MacBook will be triggered to start, but you can usually finish a quick wipe before it gets to that point. If I just want a quick wipe, I shut the MacBook down. There are third-party apps you can use to negate all key presses, but you know I don't like third-party apps. If you lock it, then you are typing into the password field. They tell you to simply shut off the MacBook, but as you know, then typing a key will turn it on. This is a tough one, and most people that write about this get it wrong.
