Prepare for selling

[lori5060]

I have my MBP up and running now and loving it.

My MBA is ready to be cleared out and ready for resale. I have done a backup and have all my data wiped from it plus any other apps I purchased. just not sure which steps to take.
Read so many options on line which confused me as to what I actually need to do. If I just set MBA back to factory settings, I am guessing Yosemite will auto load with all the other apps that came with system and wipe out all other stuff ….. correct??. Why do I have to go thru all of these other steps.


Instructions found online..listed below 1-5….but am not totally sure of these.

1.Be sure you have an up-to-date backup of your important files and data. Done

2.Sign out of iTunes……I never opened an account on iTunes so I am guessing I don’t have to do anything here including deauthorizing etc. Open iTunes. From the menu bar at the top of your computer screen or at the top of the iTunes window, choose Account > Authorizations > Deauthorize This Computer.When prompted, enter your Apple ID and password. Then click Deauthorize.

3.Sign out of iCloud…… If I follow thur with this, will I still have my data in iCloud to access via my MBP, Iphone and Ipad?

Choose Apple () menu > System Preferences, click iCloud, and then click the Sign Out button. A dialog asks whether you want to keep a copy of your iCloud data on the Mac. Because you'll reformat the hard drive in a later step, just click Keep a Copy to proceed. After you sign out of iCloud, your iCloud data remains in iCloud and on any other devices you've signed into with your Apple ID.


4.Sign out of iMessage. I assume this action will have no effect on using iMessage on Iphone,Ipad and MPB. In the Messages app, choose Messages > Preferences, then click Accounts. Select your iMessage account, then click Sign Out.


5.If you're keeping paired Bluetooth devices, unpair them (optional)…i don’t have anything paired to MBA.

If you have Bluetooth devices—such as keyboards, mice, or trackpads—paired with your Mac, and you plan to keep these devices, you can unpair them. This optional step prevents accidental input on the Mac if the computer and the Bluetooth devices have separate owners but remain within Bluetooth range of one another.

To unpair your Bluetooth devices, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Bluetooth. Hover the pointer over the device that you want to unpair, then click the remove (x) button next to the device's name. When the dialog asks if you're sure, click Remove.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello,

It is smart to follow most of those steps - especially signing out of iTunes, iCloud, and iMessage.

1. Excellent
2. No need if you have never created an Apple ID and purchased anything from iTunes or the App Store on your MBA.
3. Signing out of iCloud only removes the link from your MBA to iCloud, and removes that data from the MBA only. Yes, you can sign in to icloud.com and see all of your data, and it will remain on your iPhone/iPad/MBP. It will not delete your data in iCloud.
4. Same goes for Messages. The MBA will no longer be associated with Messages/FaceTime.

I assume you are following the steps here:
What to do before you sell or give away your Mac

The Bluetooth steps won't matter, since you are wiping the Mac, and you don't have any paired with it.

Hope that helps,

C

 

[lori5060]

thanks Cory for your reply and input. will work on that soon.

 

[Cory Cooper]

No worries...

Let us know how it goes, or if you get stuck.

C

 

[lori5060]

hello all
I have done all preparations backup etc in order to ready my MBA running Yosemite for sale.
I have a question. below are the steps I will take....

A. You can restore your Mac to factory settings by erasing your Mac, then reinstalling OS X using the built-in recovery disk.

B. Before you erase, back up your essential files. If you’re installing on a portable computer, make sure your power adapter is plugged in.
Important: To reinstall OS X, you must be connected to the Internet.

1. In the menu bar, choose Apple menu - Restart. Once your Mac restarts (and the gray screen appears and music plays), hold down the Command and R keys together and at same time.

2. Select Disk Utility, then click Continue.

3. Select your startup disk on the left, probably mac HD, then click the Erase tab.

4. Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the Format menu, enter a name can keep what is there already probably Mac HD, then click Erase.

5. Important: Erasing the disk removes all the information from the disk. Be sure to back up the information you want to keep to an external device.

6. After the disk is erased, choose Disk Utility - Quit Disk Utility.

7. Select Reinstall OS X*, click Continue, then follow the onscreen instructions.

*the only thing I am not sure of is this built-in recovery disk…not sure how the process works and
why must I be on internet when re installing OSX

 

[honestone]

This link explains that (hidden) Recovery HD partition:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

The reason why you need to be on the internet for the Mac OS installation is that unless you have the "Install MacOS Yosemite" installation file somewhere, the Mac OS installation will take place by extracting that (or maybe a newer) Mac OS installation file from Apple's servers, then doing the installation. I myself have never needed to do that, since I always have a copy of the latest (and sometimes a prior one) Mac OS installation file, but that process is slow, and you don't have much control over it. However, from what I understand, most folks have done it successfully.

 

[lori5060]

good morning
started this process this am...all went well until after I clicked the erase button bottom right to begin...the screen greyed out and only the erase button near top was blue...
it is still running...I think...no spinning cog wheels or bars indicating something is working.
how long does it take to do this erase? my ssd is 128gb.

 

[honestone]

Should not take "too long", especially if you did not change the default "Security Options", which is just one pass for erasing everything on the device.

 

[lori5060]

how long is not too long. I did not change security options. just saw that I could after I began erase.
it has been running now almost an hour.
should I wait longer?
maybe I did something wrong. can I just power down and do over again???

it has been over an hour. still looks the same. when I click on apple menu my options are:
start up disk, restart and shutdown. not sure what step to take here.

 

[honestone]

Is it done?

 

[lori5060]

I let it sit as is without any changes- so at 3:30 is opted to shut down.
Still don’t know if anything was done. Tomorro will turn on and see what things look like-

 

[honestone]

That seems really strange! Prior to selling my mid 2013 13" MacBook Air with a 252 gig SSD, it did not take very long for me to Eras and Format it with Disk Utility. I then did a clean, fresh, "virgin" installation of the latest version of High Sierra, OS 10.13.2.

When you turn it back on tomorrow, boot into Recovery Mode again, and after restart, have Disk Utility Verify and Repair the internal SSD.

 

[lori5060]

thanks honestone..... i was just a wee bit anxious. so i decided to turn it on and pressed command & r
the install process began and i followed instructions... all went well with instal of yosemite.
am ready to sell now.
thanks for all your help

 

[honestone]

You're most welcome. Glad it worked out for you.