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User profile for user: L1lyf13lds
L1lyf13lds Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Erasing the Hard Drive on a MacBook Pro

I have upgraded to a MacBook Air and want to give my MacBook Pro to our local School so I've been attempting to erase the data on it first. It's a Intel MacBook Pro mid 2014 running Big Sur. I've followed the guide on the apple support site and using Disk Utility have managed to erase the Mackintosh HD Data and am now left with just the Mackintosh HD, which seems empty (see pic below) and under Disk Image - macOS Base system (see pic below). Do I need to do anything else, like reinstall Big Sur when I leave Disk Utility? What is the macOS Base system and what is its purpose? It would be useful if this was mentioned in the support pages.


MacBook Pro

Posted on Oct 2, 2022 4:00 AM

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User profile for user: Encryptor5000
Encryptor5000
User level: Level 5
7,568 points

Posted on Oct 2, 2022 7:35 AM

Hi L1lyf13lds,


The macOS Base System is the disk image containing macOS Recovery itself. It should be left alone.


Based on your screenshots, it does appear that you correctly erased your MacBook Pro. To verify, can you please describe how your internal disk is set up, by completing these steps?


  1. Quit Disk Utility.
  2. The list of utilities should re-appear. At the top of the screen, select Utilities -> Terminal.
  3. Type "diskutil list" without the quotes and hit Enter (Return).
  4. Post the output here.
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User profile for user: Encryptor5000
Encryptor5000
User level: Level 5
7,568 points

Oct 2, 2022 7:35 AM in response to L1lyf13lds

Hi L1lyf13lds,


The macOS Base System is the disk image containing macOS Recovery itself. It should be left alone.


Based on your screenshots, it does appear that you correctly erased your MacBook Pro. To verify, can you please describe how your internal disk is set up, by completing these steps?


  1. Quit Disk Utility.
  2. The list of utilities should re-appear. At the top of the screen, select Utilities -> Terminal.
  3. Type "diskutil list" without the quotes and hit Enter (Return).
  4. Post the output here.
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Erasing the Hard Drive on a MacBook Pro

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