Six Things To Do Before Selling Your Macbook

Apple products are known for their longevity. So even after few years of using them, you can resale them for a great price. But before you decide to sell or give away your Macbook, there are few things you need to do. Because you don’t want someone else to have access to your personal data on your Macbook. In this article, we are going to discuss about things to do before selling your Macbook.

Six Things To Do Before Selling Your Macbook

Create a backup:

The most important thing to do before selling your Macbook is to create a backup of all the data present on your Macbook. Doing this will help you to restore everything on your new Macbook. You can backup everything on your Mac using the in-built Time machine tool or do it the manual way using the iCloud. We are going to explain both methods below.

Create backup using Time Machine:

Creating backup using Time machine is simple and requires no technical knowledge to do it. Follow the below steps to know how to create a backup using the Time Machine.

1. Connect your external drive to your Macbook. This will be used as storage for your backup files.
2. On the top right corner of your screen in the menu bar, click on the Time Machine.
3. From the drop-down menu, click on ‘Open Time Machine preferences’
4. Now tap on the ‘Select backup disk’ option.
5. Chose the external drive you connected to your Mac and click on ‘Use disk’ button.
6. Now click on the Time Machine icon located in the top right corner of your screen tap on ‘Backup now’ option. Your Macbook will start the backup process now. Once the backup is completed, you will be notified.

Create backup using iCloud:

Another way to create a backup of your files is to use the iCloud service. Follow the below steps to know how to create backup using iCloud.

1. You need to launch a finder window and on the left sidebar, click on ‘iCloud drive’
2. Now you need to open another Finder window and move all the files you want to backup to the iCloud drive window.
3. Note that this backup process will take time depending on the data size you are backing up.
4. Once the backup process is completed, you will be notified.

1. Sign out from iTunes, App Store and iCloud

Everyone who possesses Apple products will have a unique Apple id specifically belongs to them. This email id is used to login to different Apple services such as iTunes, App Store and iCloud. Before you are selling or giving away your Mac, you need to Signout from these services. Follow the below steps to know how to unlink your Apple ID from your Macbook

• Open iTunes on your Macbook.
• Click on the Store and tap on the View account section.
• Enter your Apple ID password.
• Now click on the Manage device section.
• Now you can tap on the delete button to delete all the devices connected with your Apple ID.
• Click on the Done button.
• Now you need to select the store and click on ‘Sign out of this computer’ button
• Now your Macbook is signed out from your Apple ID.

Sign out from other App accounts:

You don’t want to be signed in to your accounts on multiple apps like Google drive, Skype and many such similar apps when you hand over your device to someone else. Make sure to logout from all the apps you have installed on your Macbook before you are selling your device.

Disable FileVault on your Macbook:

When you are selling your Macbook, you don’t want to handover them the device with the Filevault turned on. Follow the below steps to know how to disable it.

• Click on the Apple logo at the top right corner of your screen and click on System Preferences.
• Now tap on the Security and Privacy option.
• Besides the General tab, you will be able to see the FileVault tab. Click on it.
• Now click on the ‘Turn off FileVault’ button.

Wipe off Completely your Macbook drive:

Of all the things, this is the most important thing to do before you are selling your device, You don’t want the buyer to have access to your personal data on your Macbook. In order to do this, you have to wipe off the data completely on your Macbook drive. Follow the below steps to know how to do it.

• You need to restart your Macbook.
• Now when your Mac starts to bootup, press and hold the ‘Command + R keys.
• macOS utilities window will open and click on the Disk utilities over there.
• On the left side of the window, click on the main mac drive and then click on the minus sign present on the toolbar of the window. Continue to delete the drive.
• Now click on the main Mac drive again and click on the Erase option present on the toolbar of the window.
• You need to enter a name for your drive and then click on Erase button. You Mac will start erasing all the data now.

Reinstall macOS on your Macbook:

This is the final thing you need to do before selling your Mac. Even after erasing all the data and signing out from the apps, there will be still some information about the user on your Mac. In order to wipe this off completely, you need to reinstall macOS on your Mac. Note that your device must be connected to the internet for this process to complete.

Follow the below steps to reinstall macOS on your Macbook:

• Tap on the Apple logo at the top of the screen and click on the Restart option.
• Now when your Mac starts to bootup, press and hold the ‘Command + R keys.
• On the macOS utilities window, click on the ‘Reinstall macOS’ option.
• Once the macOS is installed, click Command + Q and then turn off your Mac. Now once your sell your Mac, he can choose to configure it with his own account.

Now your Mac is completely ready to sell it off. Hope we have provided enough info about the things to do before selling your Mac. If you have any issues with the above article, please comment below your query. We will get back to you with the best solution as soon as possible.