How to wipe a Mac Mini M1 clean for sale?

[isza41]

Hi All,
I am preparing my Mac Mini M1 OS 15.5 for sale and would like to have an original factory setup reinstalled. I have cleaned it from non-original software already but do not know, how to:
1. empty my Apple Contact List ( about 550 contacts) I can not just throw it into the bin and a one-by-one delete would need ages.
2, how to preserve the content of several Apple Mail mailboxes on an external SSD before deleting all mail.
Can somebody he;p?

Thanks in advance! Andy

 

[MacsBug]

Hi Andy,

To erase the mini just go to the System Settings > General > Transfer or Reset and select Erase all content. This will take the mini back to as if was new,

As far as the mail is concerned, you can save the ones you want by just highlighting them and drag them to an external drive. They will save as individual email files. However Most email services use IMAP which means that the emails are stored on the web. there may not be a need to save them, just sign into your account with another device and you will have access to them.

 

[TonyAguila]

Hi All,
I am preparing my Mac Mini M1 OS 15.5 for sale and would like to have an original factory setup reinstalled. I have cleaned it from non-original software already but do not know, how to:
1. empty my Apple Contact List ( about 550 contacts) I can not just throw it into the bin and a one-by-one delete would need ages.
2, how to preserve the content of several Apple Mail mailboxes on an external SSD before deleting all mail.
Can somebody he;p?

Thanks in advance! Andy

If your aim is to restore/reset the Mac to its original state, i.e. “factory fresh,” the first step is to remove it from your Find My… list. Next, and you have to do this from a second Mac, you will completely wipe the old Mac of all content, including firmware and all basic settings. For this you will need to perform this in DFU mode.

When to revive or restore in DFU mode

When should you put your Mac into DFU mode, hook it up to another Mac running Configurator, and revive or restore it?

eclecticlight.co

I’ve only done this myself two or three times in the past, as I best remember, and I feel fortunate that the results were successful each time. And my guess is that if unsuccessful, you should be able to give it another try. And don’t forget the most important step: disable Find My Mac first. This cannot be done from the original Mac itself. It would be like the patient doing surgery on himself.

 

[MacsBug]

Tony,

The only time that you would need to do a restore is if there was an issue where you cannot get to the activation screen after you do an Erase all Contents in the System Settings.

 

[TonyAguila]

Tony,

The only time that you would need to do a restore is if there was an issue where you cannot get to the activation screen after you do an Erase all Contents in the System Settings.

Not true. Why don’t you read through the article in order to make sense of the need for DFU mode if you want tho Mac to come up as “factory new.”

 

[Rodananne]

The OP has already gone about the task in the "wrong" way attempting to manually remove items. We have not even mentioned signing out of services such as iCloud and Find My Mac, or the OP's second question; "how to preserve the content of several Apple Mail mailboxes on an external SSD before deleting all mail. Can somebody he;p?"

isza41, you don't need to save your mailboxes in Apple Mail so long as you are signed into iCloud and have ticked the box to Sync Mail.
Additionally you should have a local backup using the native Time Machine app or similar, just in case.

When you setup your new Mac (assuming you are replacing the Mac Mini), the easiest way is to use Migration Assistant but maybe it's too late to do that as you have already begun erasing items. MA allows you to transfer all your data and Apple Account to the new device before you erase it, creating an exact duplicate of your old device on the new one.

If however you are stuck with setting up as new, signing into yourApple iCloud account on the new mac will restore all the data you have chosen to sync in iCloud, including Apple Mail, however you will still need to add any third party email accounts to Mail by entering their passwords. They will then download your email from their appropriate servers.

"Factory new" is usually unnecessary as the article attached says, "Preparing a Mac for disposal by completely erasing all non-system data shouldn’t normally require the use of DFU mode. Both T2 and Apple silicon Macs offer Erase All Content and Settings (EACAS) as the preferred method for doing this, as it’s quicker, simpler, and minimises erase cycles on the internal SSD."

 

[isza41]

Hello All,
thanks for all the suggestions. I have found the mentioned "Erase All Content and Settings" and that would probably solve the "restore to factory state" my older Mac. However, I still have the problem left of how to recover quite a few saved emails. It is true, what MacsBug wrote, that the email service providers' accounts were IMAP and the mails are still on their servers but problem
No. 1 is: that to several of them I have no access any more, because I have ended their contract awhile ago, and
No. 2 is: that many of those emails I would like to save are kept in folders under "On My Mac", which I just recently discovered is not like a folder physically located somewhere. I can not move, export or somehow relocate the therein contained emails. Would they be transferred to my new Mac if I used "Migration Assistant"?
I need someone's help more experienced than I am, because I don't want to risk loosing those mails and their data by just screwing around.
Andy

 

[TonyAguila]

Hello All,
thanks for all the suggestions. I have found the mentioned "Erase All Content and Settings" and that would probably solve the "restore to factory state" my older Mac. However, I still have the problem left of how to recover quite a few saved emails. It is true, what MacsBug wrote, that the email service providers' accounts were IMAP and the mails are still on their servers but problem
No. 1 is: that to several of them I have no access any more, because I have ended their contract awhile ago, and
No. 2 is: that many of those emails I would like to save are kept in folders under "On My Mac", which I just recently discovered is not like a folder physically located somewhere. I can not move, export or somehow relocate the therein contained emails. Would they be transferred to my new Mac if I used "Migration Assistant"?
I need someone's help more experienced than I am, because I don't want to risk loosing those mails and their data by just screwing around.
Andy

But you said that you are preparing your Mac “for sale and would like to have an original factory setup reinstalled.” If you don’t perform a thorough cleaning of all your data, and your buyer could go after you for have odd problems come up after using the Mac. So if you want to take the easy road, just go ahead and do a simple wipe and reinstall and hope that things will go well for the buyer.