Need to restore Mac to factory settings?
If you decide to sell or give away your Mac, you'll need to wipe your data in order to set up your Mac like a new one. Not only is it essential for your privacy, but it is also the right way to prepare your MacBook for another owner. Resetting Mac to factory settings includes several steps. Here's the brief outline of them:
- Data backup
- Deauthorizing iTunes on macOS Mojave or earlier
- Signing out iCloud and iMessage
- Erasing Touch Bar data
- Erasing Mac hard drive in Recovery Mode
- Reinstalling macOS
Continue reading to learn the steps to factory reset MacBook Pro or any other Mac computer just as of it was new.
Note: This guide is relevant to Mac Pro, iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air.
The ultimate checklist to factory reset MacBook Pro
Is your Mac mini PowerPC-based (a 'G4') or a more recent Intel Mac mini? This forum category is for Mac OS X 10.3, so that would make it a PowerPC-based Mac mini, but your question may have appeared in the wrong category, so it doesn't hurt to ask. Here are some general things that apply, either way.
Step 1. Back up your data
When you factory reset MacBook Pro, all the information you have on your hard drive is wiped off. That's why you need to create a backup to save your important files and data. This is like cloning your hard drive and keeping it for some time.
You can manually back up all your files and apps by copying everything to an external drive or iCloud. However, the faster and more secure way to back up your Mac is Time Machine — Mac's built-in software. It allows to recover individual files and restore your whole hard drive in the event of a catastrophe.
- That is helpful as well. It is sort of a long explanation of how I ended up with this issue, but briefly, I got a new Macbook that I don't want to synch up to the family desktop Mac, so I had thousands of emails in my inbox that I wanted to discard. I appreciate all of the help and should be able to do it much more quickly!
- How to Wipe a Mac Clean. This wikiHow teaches you how to delete all the data, files, applications, and settings on your Mac computer. Back up any data you want to save. Wiping your Mac will erase everything, including your operating.
- CCleaner for Mac! Clean up your Mac and keep your browsing behaviour private with CCleaner, the world's favourite computer cleaning tool.
- MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air When cleaning the outside of your MacBook, MacBook Pro, or MacBook Air, first shut down your computer and unplug the power adapter. Then use a damp, soft, lint-free cloth to clean the computer's exterior. Avoid getting moisture in any openings.
However, before you use Time Machine, make sure to clean up your Mac. You don't want to back up all the junk it contains, do you? Plus, a backup will go faster and more smoothly if your Mac is not cluttered. For a quick cleanup, you can use a utility like CleanMyMac X. It will help you remove large and old files, useless apps, caches, and system junk in two clicks.
Here's how to clean GBs of junk in under 5 minutes:
- Download CleanMyMac X and launch it.
- Click Scan.
- Click Run.
Once you've cleaned up your Mac, enable Time Machine backups:
- Go to the Apple menu in the top left corner of your screen and choose System Preferences.
- Select Time Machine.
- Click the Select Backup Disk button.
- Choose the disk you'd like to use as a Time Machine backup, then click Use Disk.
- Check the Back Up Automatically box in order to back up your Mac to the chosen disk automatically.
That's it!
Note that your first backup may take a long time, depending on how many files you have. But don't skip this step — the backup will allow you to restore all your data should something goes wrong when you factory reset Mac.
Once your files are backed up, next be sure to disable any services that are associated with your system, including iTunes, iCloud, and iMessage, and deactivate programs on your Mac. Just take your time to sign out of everything to avoid those 'after the sale' calls from a new user.
Step 2. Deauthorize iTunes
Note: As you may know, iTunes has been replaced by Music, Podcasts, Books and Apple TV on macOS Catalina. You can only deauthorize iTunes if your Mac is running macOS Mojave or earlier.
Did you know, you can authorize up to 5 computers, which means that you can play your content just on 5 different Macs? That's why you need to make sure your computer is not linked to your iTunes account when it gets a new owner. Don't save this step for later.
Here's how to sign out of iTunes:
- Open iTunes on your Mac.
- Click Account in the menu bar.
- Choose Authorizations > Deauthorize This Computer.
- Provide your Apple ID and password.
- Click Deauthorize.
Tip
If your Mac is running macOS Catalina, you can deauthorize Music and Apple TV as well following the instructions above. To deauthorize Books, open it and click Store. Choose Authorisations to deauthorize.
Do you need to turn off FileVault to do a factory reset?
Some sources on the Internet recommend turning off FileVault before doing a factory reset. FileVault encrypts your data and prevents unauthorized access to the information on your startup disk. So, even if you are going to sell your Mac, the purchaser won't be able to access your data as they'd need your password to decrypt it. Complete factory reset covers erasing your startup disk (described in Step 7), which will make the recovery of your data impossible. Therefore, there is no need to turn off FileVault, as your data can't be accessible in any readable form after you erase the drive.
Step 3. Disable iCloud
Sign out of iCloud to make sure that any remnants of the cloud data, such as bookmarks, notes, reminders, etc., are not visible to a new user.
Follow these steps to turn off iCloud:
- Choose Apple menu > System Preferences.
- Select iCloud.
- Click Sign Out.
- Confirm that you want to remove data from your Mac.
Step 4. Sign out of iMessage
Before you restore Mac to factory settings, be sure to sign out of iMessage. Here's how to do that:
- Open up Messages.
- Click Messages in the Menu bar in the top left corner of your screen.
- From the drop-down menu, choose Preferences.
- Select your iMessage account.
- Click on the Sign Out button.
As simple as that!
Step 5. Erase Touch Bar Data
To ensure that all information is cleared from the Touch Bar, you need to erase its data. Follow these steps:
- Hold down the Command+R keys after pressing the power button to turn on your Mac or right after your Mac begins to restart.
- Choose Utilities > Terminal from the macOS Utilities window.
- Type this command in Terminal: xartutil --erase-all
- Press Return, type yes when asked if you are sure, and press Return again.
- Choose Terminal > Quit Terminal.
Step 6: Restart Your Mac in Recovery Mode
Once you've backed up your data and signed out of everything, you are ready to wipe your Mac and give it a fresh start with a new owner. The following steps will tell you how to restore Mac to factory settings. This is pretty simple. Go to the Apple menu in the top left corner of your screen and choose Restart. As the system restarts, hold the combination of Command and R keys together — you'll notice the Recovery Mode window.
Step 7: Erase Mac hard drive
If you plan to sell or give away your Mac, you need to erase your Mac's startup disk. The startup disk is built-into your MacBook. Its default name is Macintosh HD.
With the release of macOS Catalina, Apple has added the read-only volume. It means that the new macOS is running a separate system volume to keep critical system files more protected. That's why apart from central Macintosh HD volume, there is Macintosh HD - Data volume, which contains all your data. So, if you want to remove every piece of personal information from your Mac, you need to erase both Macintosh HD and Macintosh HD - Data volumes.
- Choose Disk Utility in the Utilities window.
- Click the Continue button.
- Your startup disk is the disk named 'Macintosh HD' unless you renamed it before.
- If you have 'Data' volume in the sidebar, which contains the name of your startup disk (for example, Macintosh HD - Data), select it. Click Edit and select Delete APFS volume from the menu bar. Press the Delete button (don't click Delete Volume Group).
- Now select Macintosh HD from the sidebar.
- Click Erase at the top of the Disk Utility window.
- Enter the name of this volume and choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format from the drop-down menu.
- Click Erase. You may need to enter your Apple ID for confirmation.
When the process is complete, go the Disk Utility menu in the top left corner of your screen and select Quit Disk Utility.
Step 8: Reinstall your operating system
How To Clean Mac Storage
Congratulations, you've reformatted your hard drive and now you can reinstall a clean Mac operating system. Simply click Reinstall macOS or Reinstall OS X from the Utilities menu. Confirm that you really want to do it and follow the instructions you'll see on the screen.
However, if you are not going to keep your Mac, it would be better to quit the process and let the new owner enter all necessary information. Simply hold down the Command and Q keys and then choose Shut Down to turn the Mac off but leave it waiting for a new user.
That's all. Now your Mac is clean and ready for a fresh start.
Junk files, system cache, user cache, duplicates, trash bin, etc. can occupy massive amounts of storage space on the hard disk. Cleaning these files manually from Mac can be cumbersome and time-consuming.
So, here's a tip: Try Disk Clean Pro and get rid of junk files, system cache, old downloads, large & unused files, duplicates, and much more from your Mac. This quick, easy, simple, yet effective cleaning tool will declutter your Mac in no time, thus helping recover a huge amount of storage space.
Do you miss using that faster and optimized Mac? Well, with time, as Mac gets cluttered, the performance decreases. Hence, to get as much benefit as possible out of your Apple system, Mac's regular cleaning is required.
Without any further delay in this article, we will learn how to clean up iMac, enhancing its speed and response time.
Short on Time?
Here are the quickest and automatic ways to cleanup Mac
If you don't like spending time cleaning your Mac manually, use the best Mac cleanup tool Disk Clean Pro. This cleanup utility helps find and remove all clutter from your Mac. It knows how to find junk files on Mac. Disk Clean Pro finishes the tedious and time-consuming task of cleaning Mac in under 5-10 minutes (depending on the disk). It even helps clean duplicates that are hard to detect and gives you enough free storage space to save important data.
How to Clean Out Mac and Free Up Storage Using Disk Clean Pro
1. Download, install and launch Disk Clean Pro
2. Click Start System System Scan
3. Wait for the scan to finish.
4. Once done, click Clean Now to get rid of all unwanted data, including junk files, system cache, user cache, etc.
Now try using your Mac; you will indeed feel a difference in performance
Manual Ways to Clean up MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac
The foremost way to clean a Mac is to clean it from the inside. Indeed, this will be time-consuming, but it's worth it!
1. Update macOS and other installed Software
To optimize and cleanup Mac you first need to update your software. For this, install any security patches, application updates, and other released bug fixes. Also, we recommend accepting updates from Apple. This helps keep security vulnerabilities in check and receive new features. Nonetheless, software updates help streamline applications and make them more efficient.
To view and install available OS updates, click the Apple icon > About This Mac > Overview tab > hit Software Update.
2. Cleanup Desktop
This might sound too easy and an obvious step, but you will be surprised to see how messed up it is when you look at your desktop. Fortunately, it can be fixed. To fix this problem, you'll need to manually remove all unnecessary items from the desktop and sort things. This will help get a clear desktop and optimizer Finder, thereby boost the search time.
Note: Finder treats a folder or file on desktop as a window; due to this, it slows down. So, sorting the desktop is a good idea to optimize Finder.
3. Follow 15% Rule
Wondering why your Mac is slow? Hear this, the less the free hard disk space, the slower the performance. This means your hard drive becomes full; it slows down Mac and even freezes it. Due to this, you see frequent beach ball, experience Mac running slow, Mac overheating, Mac booting up slow, and other problems. Therefore, to enhance performance and keep it that way, try to keep at least 15% of free space on your system hard drive. The more free space, the better and faster the performance is.
4. Clean up Cache
When the browser slows down, to boost its speed, cleaning up the cache is recommended. Since cache files store information about the files & apps accessed, they reduce the time to get original information from the source. But over time, these files take unnecessary space and slow the Mac. Therefore, give your system a boost and clean up Mac from cache files. We recommend using Disk Clean Pro. However, if you want to do it yourself, you can check our comprehensive guide on How to Clear Cache on Mac.
This will help clean Cache and smooth things up.
5. Find and Remove Duplicates
Everyone knows Duplicates consume unnecessary space but finding and removing them from Mac isn't easy. In such a case using the best duplicate finder helps, as using it, can quickly detect and clean duplicates. The fastest way is to use the Duplicate Finder offered by Disk Clean Pro.
1. Download and launch Disk Clean Pro
2. Click Duplicate Finder from the left pane and run the scan
3. Once done, review all items by clicking the arrow and unhiding files.
4. To remove duplicates, select them and click Clean Now.
That's it; you will now have a duplicate free Mac.
Note: Duplicate Finder detects all types of duplicates; this means be it music, audio, video, documents, or archives, it will detect and show all.
6. Uninstall Unwanted Apps
Of course, applications installed on Mac take up space, and over time, when your Mac is full of different apps, it slows down. Therefore, it's necessary to clean up the iMac. To do so, head to the Applications folder, look for the apps you don't use, right-click > Move to Bin; this will remove all unwanted apps from Mac.
Remember, doing so will not uninstall the app entirely because app leftovers could still be found sitting on your Mac. If you want to do proper cleaning of your Mac, you need to uninstall apps completely. To learn how to do that, you can check our guide on uninstalling apps on Mac. In addition to this, you can also check the post on the best Mac Uninstaller software.
Decrease the number of login items as more the number; more is memory consumption.
To do so, follow the steps below:
- Open System Preferences
- Head to Users & Groups > select the user name from the left pane
- Click Login Items tab > check the box next to the startup item you want to disable > click the – sign.
This will remove unwanted login items from booting at startup.
7. Empty Trash
Even though several apps are deleted, but still, no space is recovered? It's because deleted apps reside in your Trash bin. To free up storage space and clean up Mac, MacBook Pro, iMac completely, you will have to empty the bin. Here's how to clean the Trash Bin on Mac, iMac.
1. Download and launch Disk Clean Pro
2. Click Misc Cleaning present in the left pane
3. Now click Trash Cleaner > Start Scan
4. Wait for the scan to finish Create a bootable usb mac on windows.
5. Once done, it will show all deleted items present in Bin, select, and delete them.
That's all. Disk Clean Pro has emptied the trash and helped clean up Mac.
8. Decrease Clutter
Apple knows overtime Mac gets cluttered; hence it has already provided a solution. Here's how to declutter Mac:
- Click the Apple menu > About This Mac > Storage.
- Here you will be able to see used and free space.
- Click Manage and follow the recommendations.
This will help clean up Mac and reclaim storage space. In addition to this, we suggest reading our article on how to clean purgeable data on Mac.
9. Delete old and unused files
More the free space, the faster is your Mac. If you are a video editor, photographer, or do some designing work, you need more space than usual. The manual way to clear storage space is to look for large files one by one and delete them. However, if you want to do this work without wasting time and accuracy, use Disk Clean Pro for this job.
How to Clean Up Mac with Disk Clean Pro
1. Download and install Disk Clean Pro
2. Open the program
How to Clean Out Mac and Free Up Storage Using Disk Clean Pro
1. Download, install and launch Disk Clean Pro
2. Click Start System System Scan
3. Wait for the scan to finish.
4. Once done, click Clean Now to get rid of all unwanted data, including junk files, system cache, user cache, etc.
Now try using your Mac; you will indeed feel a difference in performance
Manual Ways to Clean up MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac
The foremost way to clean a Mac is to clean it from the inside. Indeed, this will be time-consuming, but it's worth it!
1. Update macOS and other installed Software
To optimize and cleanup Mac you first need to update your software. For this, install any security patches, application updates, and other released bug fixes. Also, we recommend accepting updates from Apple. This helps keep security vulnerabilities in check and receive new features. Nonetheless, software updates help streamline applications and make them more efficient.
To view and install available OS updates, click the Apple icon > About This Mac > Overview tab > hit Software Update.
2. Cleanup Desktop
This might sound too easy and an obvious step, but you will be surprised to see how messed up it is when you look at your desktop. Fortunately, it can be fixed. To fix this problem, you'll need to manually remove all unnecessary items from the desktop and sort things. This will help get a clear desktop and optimizer Finder, thereby boost the search time.
Note: Finder treats a folder or file on desktop as a window; due to this, it slows down. So, sorting the desktop is a good idea to optimize Finder.
3. Follow 15% Rule
Wondering why your Mac is slow? Hear this, the less the free hard disk space, the slower the performance. This means your hard drive becomes full; it slows down Mac and even freezes it. Due to this, you see frequent beach ball, experience Mac running slow, Mac overheating, Mac booting up slow, and other problems. Therefore, to enhance performance and keep it that way, try to keep at least 15% of free space on your system hard drive. The more free space, the better and faster the performance is.
4. Clean up Cache
When the browser slows down, to boost its speed, cleaning up the cache is recommended. Since cache files store information about the files & apps accessed, they reduce the time to get original information from the source. But over time, these files take unnecessary space and slow the Mac. Therefore, give your system a boost and clean up Mac from cache files. We recommend using Disk Clean Pro. However, if you want to do it yourself, you can check our comprehensive guide on How to Clear Cache on Mac.
This will help clean Cache and smooth things up.
5. Find and Remove Duplicates
Everyone knows Duplicates consume unnecessary space but finding and removing them from Mac isn't easy. In such a case using the best duplicate finder helps, as using it, can quickly detect and clean duplicates. The fastest way is to use the Duplicate Finder offered by Disk Clean Pro.
1. Download and launch Disk Clean Pro
2. Click Duplicate Finder from the left pane and run the scan
3. Once done, review all items by clicking the arrow and unhiding files.
4. To remove duplicates, select them and click Clean Now.
That's it; you will now have a duplicate free Mac.
Note: Duplicate Finder detects all types of duplicates; this means be it music, audio, video, documents, or archives, it will detect and show all.
6. Uninstall Unwanted Apps
Of course, applications installed on Mac take up space, and over time, when your Mac is full of different apps, it slows down. Therefore, it's necessary to clean up the iMac. To do so, head to the Applications folder, look for the apps you don't use, right-click > Move to Bin; this will remove all unwanted apps from Mac.
Remember, doing so will not uninstall the app entirely because app leftovers could still be found sitting on your Mac. If you want to do proper cleaning of your Mac, you need to uninstall apps completely. To learn how to do that, you can check our guide on uninstalling apps on Mac. In addition to this, you can also check the post on the best Mac Uninstaller software.
Decrease the number of login items as more the number; more is memory consumption.
To do so, follow the steps below:
- Open System Preferences
- Head to Users & Groups > select the user name from the left pane
- Click Login Items tab > check the box next to the startup item you want to disable > click the – sign.
This will remove unwanted login items from booting at startup.
7. Empty Trash
Even though several apps are deleted, but still, no space is recovered? It's because deleted apps reside in your Trash bin. To free up storage space and clean up Mac, MacBook Pro, iMac completely, you will have to empty the bin. Here's how to clean the Trash Bin on Mac, iMac.
1. Download and launch Disk Clean Pro
2. Click Misc Cleaning present in the left pane
3. Now click Trash Cleaner > Start Scan
4. Wait for the scan to finish Create a bootable usb mac on windows.
5. Once done, it will show all deleted items present in Bin, select, and delete them.
That's all. Disk Clean Pro has emptied the trash and helped clean up Mac.
8. Decrease Clutter
Apple knows overtime Mac gets cluttered; hence it has already provided a solution. Here's how to declutter Mac:
- Click the Apple menu > About This Mac > Storage.
- Here you will be able to see used and free space.
- Click Manage and follow the recommendations.
This will help clean up Mac and reclaim storage space. In addition to this, we suggest reading our article on how to clean purgeable data on Mac.
9. Delete old and unused files
More the free space, the faster is your Mac. If you are a video editor, photographer, or do some designing work, you need more space than usual. The manual way to clear storage space is to look for large files one by one and delete them. However, if you want to do this work without wasting time and accuracy, use Disk Clean Pro for this job.
How to Clean Up Mac with Disk Clean Pro
1. Download and install Disk Clean Pro
2. Open the program
3. Click Old & Unused Files > click the Scan button
4. Wait for the scan to finish > review the results and click Clean Now.
That's it. Your Mac will now be free from old and unused files.
10. Delete old iTunes Backup
Keeping data backup is very good, but when this backup gets outdated, it overloads your Mac unnecessarily. That's why removing old iTunes backups that you no longer need is recommended. This will help free up gigabytes of space and clean up Mac, iMac, and MacBook.
The easiest way to delete old backups is to use Disk Clean Pro. Using this one-click optimization tool in simple 2-3 clicks, you can do a thorough cleaning of Mac. To use it, follow the steps below:
1. Download and install Disk Clean Pro.
2. Open the application
3. Click Misc Cleaning from the left pane > iTunes Device Backup > Start Scan
4. Select the old backup you no longer need and click Clean Now; confirm the action, and you are all done.
That's all old backups that you decided you no longer need are gone forever from Mac.
11. Clean Unwanted Language Files
Mac applications can be used in almost every language; therefore, they come with different language files. Cool, isn't it? But do you use all languages? When was the last time you used an application in Bengali or Hindi? Since you don't speak all languages, having these language files is a waste of storage space. Therefore, to clean up Mac and declutter it, removing unused files is recommended. To delete these files, head to Finder > Applications > select the app for which you want to remove unwanted language file > Show Package Content.
Open Resources folder > look for folders ending with.Iproj. Look for the language file you wish to remove, select it > right-click > Move to Bin. This way, you can get rid of language files. However, if you are looking for an easy way to remove a language file, read our post on removing unused language files.
12. Delete old Disk Images
Fortnite mobile on mac. To clean up unwanted or old disk images that take unnecessary space, follow the steps below:
- Open Finder and type disk image in the search bar
- Select the files with .dmg extension > Right click > Move to Bin
- After this, empty trash.
- This will clean all DMG files from Mac.
13. Clean old downloads folder
If you don't clean the Download folder from time to time, it can take a toll on your Mac. Hence, it's necessary to clean up old downloads. The best way to do that is to use the Old Downloads module offered by Disk Clean Pro. To use it, follow the steps below:
1. Install and launch Disk Clean Pro
2. Click Old Downloads > Start Scan
3. Once the scan is finished, you can review detected items and see the space they occupy.
4. Select and click Clean Now.
That's it; you have done an excellent cleaning job for your Mac and have recovered storage space.
14. Get rid of resource-hungry apps.
Some programs use more processor and memory resources than required.
To find which are those apps follow the steps below:
- Click Finder menu > Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor > Memory tab
- Here you will see resource hogging apps.
- Select and click the X button at the top left
- Now click the CPU tab, select the ones that take up memory, and quit.
15. Clear Mail Downloads
How To Clean Up My Mac
If you use the Mail application in macOS, there are chances that email attachments are taking up tons of space on the hard drive. So, it's time to get rid of mail downloads and free up space on Mac. To do so, follow the steps below:
1. Install and launch Disk Clean Pro
2. Click Misc Cleaning > Mail Downloads > Start Scan
3. Wait for the scan to finish and clean all the old downloads.
That's it. This helps clean Mac, iMac, Macbook and free up space on the hard disk.
Note: Cleaning downloaded mail attachments does not remove them from the mail. Whenever you need them can re-download them from the mail.
How To Clean Sweep A Macbook Pro
This is all using these simple steps you can easily clean up and optimize Mac. Alongside you can also recover storage space and can organize data. We hope you find the article informative and useful. If you are the DIY types can use the manual methods. However, if you like to save time and don't want to get into the complexities of cleaning Mac, use Disk Clean Pro.
This best Mac optimizer can be downloaded from AppStore and used on all macOS. Not only this, it is the #1 rated disk cleaning tool and comes for $10.99, which is nothing for the features it offers. So, give it a try today and share your thoughts about the article and Disk Clean Pro in the comments section.
6 Responses
