Can I wipe out a Mac while its decrypting a File Vault backup?

I'm reinstalling Mac OS to get a fresh start. I miss-read somewhere that I had to disable File Vault before wiping out the OS. This is true only if you're selling the device to someone else because it'll ask for the previous password upon bootup.


My question is can I wipe out a Mac whilst its decrypting a Time Machine backup? It's going to take 3 days if I let it decrypt. Will it screw anything up if I wipe it out while the Mac is doing this?

Posted on Oct 23, 2021 11:06 PM

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Posted on Oct 25, 2021 6:47 AM

DCarlson93 wrote:

I'm reinstalling Mac OS to get a fresh start. I miss-read somewhere that I had to disable File Vault before wiping out the OS. This is true only if you're selling the device to someone else because it'll ask for the previous password upon bootup.

My question is can I wipe out a Mac whilst its decrypting a Time Machine backup? It's going to take 3 days if I let it decrypt. Will it screw anything up if I wipe it out while the Mac is doing this?
https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/dd7c76e4-a8af-44a2-bfb5-d55eeafad3d5


No let it finish decrypting


https://support.apple.com/guide/security/volume-encryption-with-filevault-sec4c6dc1b6e/web

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2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 25, 2021 6:47 AM in response to DCarlson93

DCarlson93 wrote:

I'm reinstalling Mac OS to get a fresh start. I miss-read somewhere that I had to disable File Vault before wiping out the OS. This is true only if you're selling the device to someone else because it'll ask for the previous password upon bootup.

My question is can I wipe out a Mac whilst its decrypting a Time Machine backup? It's going to take 3 days if I let it decrypt. Will it screw anything up if I wipe it out while the Mac is doing this?
https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/dd7c76e4-a8af-44a2-bfb5-d55eeafad3d5


No let it finish decrypting


https://support.apple.com/guide/security/volume-encryption-with-filevault-sec4c6dc1b6e/web

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Can I wipe out a Mac while its decrypting a File Vault backup?

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