Trying to erase all contents and restore to factory settings. I have a 2017 iMac. I can’t use the setting erase all settings so I have to use disk utility.
iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 13.5
Take just 10-20 seconds to erase a drive. To reset the computer to factory settings follow the steps in What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac, do NOT vary from them.
Depends on whether you are doing a regular erase, or a secure erase. A regular erase just marks the space on the disk as free for use, and should complete quickly. A secure erase that is done by overwriting all of the sectors of a disk will take longer. A LOT longer – could be many hours.
This assumes that your drive is OK, and is not failing, which could cause things to take even longer.
How long does it usually take for Disk Utility to erase Macintosh HD and create a new one? My screen has been the same for an hour.
