{"id":36262,"date":"2019-01-11T09:00:07","date_gmt":"2019-01-11T15:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/?p=36262"},"modified":"2019-12-27T13:12:16","modified_gmt":"2019-12-27T19:12:16","slug":"how-to-securely-prep-a-mac-before-selling-it-giving-it-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/36262-how-to-securely-prep-a-mac-before-selling-it-giving-it-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Security First: Seven Steps to Take Before Selling, Giving Away a Mac"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"While OWC<\/a> provides a wide variety of memory<\/a> and storage expansion<\/a> products designed to let Mac owners get the most life out of their devices, there comes a time where selling a Mac or giving it away is the best decision. Perhaps the Mac just doesn’t have the power or speed to keep up with your needs, but it could be useful for another person who just needs to check email and browse the web. Or maybe you got a new Mac over the holidays and are ready to pass on your older model.<\/p>\n

In this post, we’ll give you step-by-step instructions on how to prepare a Mac for its new owner and how to protect yourself and your data.<\/p>\n

1) Create a Backup<\/strong>
\nIf you’re a longtime reader of The Rocket Yard and have read the articles about how to back up your Mac using Time Machine<\/a> or create a bootable backup<\/a> using SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner, then you probably have a recent backup and can skip this step. Has it been a while since the device was backed up? You never know — there could be some important data on it, so make a backup — especially if you plan on moving that data to a new Mac.<\/p>\n

2) Sign out of iTunes<\/strong>
\niTunes can only be authorized on a certain number of Macs, so it’s important to sign out of and deauthorize iTunes on a Mac that you’re repurposing. To begin, launch iTunes on the Mac, then select Store > Deauthorize This Computer<\/strong>. You’ll be prompted to enter your Apple ID and password. Once those have been typed into the appropriate fields, click the Deauthorize button. For more information on deauthorizing computers using iTunes, visit this Apple support page on the subject<\/a>.<\/p>\n

3) Sign out of iCloud<\/strong>
\niCloud is at the heart of synchronizing data between Macs and iOS devices, so it’s important that your iCloud data be excluded from syncing with your computer once it’s out of your hands. Apple suggests that you archive or make copies of your iCloud data just in case, and provides a full support page on how to copy the data for each iCloud service<\/a> — Documents, Photos and Videos, Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Safari, Notes and iTunes Store Purchases.<\/p>\n

If you’ve copied that information or feel confident that it’s safe, select Apple Menu > System Preferences<\/strong>, click on iCloud, and then deselect the Find My Mac checkbox. This is important, as the recipient of your old Mac probably wouldn’t appreciate knowing that you’re able to track its movements. Next, sign out of iCloud in System Preferences by clicking on iCloud and then clicking the Sign Out button.<\/p>\n

During the sign-out process, you’re asked whether you wish to remove iCloud data from that Mac. The data will remain on all other devices using the same Apple ID, so it is recommended that you click the appropriate button to remove the iCloud data from the Mac.<\/p>\n

4) Remove the Mac from Apple Support registration<\/strong>
\nAt some point in time, you may have registered the Mac with Apple Support. To take the Mac off of your list of registered devices, sign into supportprofile.apple.com<\/a> with your Apple ID and remove the Mac if it is listed there. As a suggestion, if you’ve never looked at your support profile, it’s not a bad idea to take a look and remove those items you no longer own. A case in point – when I signed in to view my support profile while writing this post, I found 29 items listed there. By the time I was done removing those that I no longer owned, I was down to 12…<\/p>\n

5) Sign out of iMessage<\/strong>
\nThis is only important if the Mac is running OS X Mountain Lion or later. To sign out, launch the Messages app from the Dock, then select Messages > Preferences > Accounts<\/strong>. Click the Sign Out button next to the Apple ID.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

6) Erase the Mac drive and reinstall macOS<\/strong><\/p>\n