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Entire disk doesn’t wipe after I erase it.

I am wiping my MacBook Pro and when I erase the disk, it still shows 55gb on the disk and only roughly 190 of the 256 available before I reinstall MacOS.

any help on how to clear the entire disk or is this normal?


thanks!


MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Oct 28, 2020 10:51 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 28, 2020 10:57 PM

Sounds like you are actually only erasing the Volume and not the Disk.

When you boot to your Recovery HD and select Disk Utility

click on View in the menubar and select Show All Devices.

In the left hand panel you will now see all the Volumes and the Disk will be

the uppermost probably called Apple SSD or similar.

Highlight the Disk not any of the indented Volumes.

Now click Erase.

Give the Disk a name.

Format: APFS.

Scheme: GUID Partition Map

Click Erase.


This will erase the entire disk.

What OS are you hoping to install on your mac.

If it is an older OS like Sierra or older change the

Format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 28, 2020 10:57 PM in response to nolanfromsantaquin

Sounds like you are actually only erasing the Volume and not the Disk.

When you boot to your Recovery HD and select Disk Utility

click on View in the menubar and select Show All Devices.

In the left hand panel you will now see all the Volumes and the Disk will be

the uppermost probably called Apple SSD or similar.

Highlight the Disk not any of the indented Volumes.

Now click Erase.

Give the Disk a name.

Format: APFS.

Scheme: GUID Partition Map

Click Erase.


This will erase the entire disk.

What OS are you hoping to install on your mac.

If it is an older OS like Sierra or older change the

Format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

Entire disk doesn’t wipe after I erase it.

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