If I wipe my MacBook, is my information still on the encrypted hard drive?

If I wipe my MacBook to sell is my information still on the encrypted hard drive


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Posted on Sep 19, 2021 3:01 PM

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2 replies

Sep 19, 2021 6:25 PM in response to BcBuckNastay

Hi McBuckNastay,


As a general rule of thumb, no. Your data will be completely inaccessible unless you made a backup first.


If your Mac has an Apple silicon chip or uses the T2 Security Chip: Your Mac uses hardware encryption, even if FileVault is disabled. If you erase your Mac, the Secure Enclave (or the T2 chip itself) will irreversibly destroy the encryption keys, making your data inaccessible forever. The actual data will also be erased from the internal SSD.


If your Mac has an Intel processor, but not the T2 Security Chip: Hardware encryption isn't available. It is strongly recommended to enable FileVault and wait for encryption to complete before you erase your Mac. This ensures that when you erase your Mac, the encryption keys are destroyed, and your data is forever inaccessible.


  • If your Mac features an SSD with TRIM support, your data will also be erased from the SSD itself.


  • If your Mac shipped with a rotational hard drive (HDD), the data will NOT be erased from the drive. It will be overwritten as the new owner uses the Mac. Assuming that you enabled FileVault before the erase, your data is still inaccessible because the keys are destroyed. If you really want to completely erase your data, run a pass of zeroes over the drive - this will take a long time to complete. Then, erase (format) it normally.

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If I wipe my MacBook, is my information still on the encrypted hard drive?

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