Need another option to wipe my old 2010 mac clean

Question

Level 1

5 points

Need another option to wipe my old 2010 mac clean

I need to wipe my old mac data and am trying to do Command + R on the restart but the problem is I have cheap keyboard I had to pick up as a temporary one. I have tried the restart with the Alt + R and also with Ctrl + R and the disk utility window does not pop up.

Does anyone have any other ways to erase the data or know what I should push with this keyboard?

PS. There is no option in settings under general to erase the data.

Thanks

Julie

iMac 27″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Feb 21, 2023 11:58 AM

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Answer 1

Tesserax

Level 10

151,737 points

Feb 21, 2023 9:28 PM in response to typhoon1

Ok, it looks like you are trying to use a "Windows" keyboard with your Mac.

The Mac keyboard key combination for entering Recovery Mode, would be <command><R>. The <R> key will be the same for either keyboard, but the Windows keyboard equivalent to the Mac's <command> key, would be the <ctrl> key.

Therefore to enter recovery, with this keyboard, you should use the <ctrl><R> key combination. I suggest that you power down your Mac. Then power it back up, and immediately hold down both of these keys until recovery mode starts.

Should this still fail to work, then it may be possible that you may be able to change the keyboard type by going to System Preferences > Keyboard > Change Keyboard Type... This should take you through a few steps asking you to press keys that are adjacent to both the left & right shift keys to let macOS know what keyboard type is connected.

Ref: Keyboard mapings using a PC keyboard on a Macintosh - Microsoft Support

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Answer 2

typhoon1 Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 22, 2023 1:43 AM in response to Tesserax

Thank you for your reply but unfortunately on this keyboard Ctl +R does not seem to be working as I get the standard start up screen for me to sign in and not the disc option. Any other possible work arounds to erase the data?

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Answer 3

typhoon1 Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 22, 2023 1:55 AM in response to Tesserax

Thank you for your reply but unfortunately on this keyboard Ctl +R does not seem to be working as I get the standard start up screen for me to sign in and not the disc option. Any other possible work arounds to erase the data?

Reply

Answer 4

typhoon1 Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 22, 2023 1:56 AM in response to D.I. Johnson

Thank you for your reply but unfortunately on this keyboard Ctl +R does not seem to be working as I get the standard start up screen for me to sign in and not the disc option. Any other possible work arounds to erase the data?

Reply