How to wipe out broken Mac?

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Level 1

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How to wipe out broken Mac?

I have a late 2011 17-inch MacBook Pro that broke on me. The Genius Bar person said that the logic board is messed up. I'll try and start up my laptop but it well never start up enough for me to sign in. It will show the Apple logo, start to load, and then stop and show a blank gray screen. I ended up buying a new Mac and I want to sell the old laptop, but want to wipe it out first (like make sure my iMessage is signed out, take out my iCloud info, erase my notes, contacts, and all that good stuff). I'm not very high tech with computers, but from reading online, I think my only option to do this is to buy an external enclosure. I also read about using FireVault or Thunderbolt cord and then doing target disk mode, but I don't think this will work since my laptop won't even start up correctly (please let me know if I'm wrong). Is there any other way I am able to wipe out my old laptop? If an external enclosure is the only way, will this take out my iMessage account, iTunes account, and wipe out all my files such as documents, pictures, and such?

MacBook Pro (17-inch Late 2011)

Posted on Apr 16, 2017 1:18 AM

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Answer 1

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tjk

Level 9

51,192 points

Sep 19, 2018 11:03 PM in response to csan12

Hi,

Do try Target Disk Mode as it sometimes works even when a Mac can't boot normally: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201462

This is what you should do, and would take care of all your questions IF you could only boot up normally, but you can't so you'll have to do without the suggestions: What to do before you sell or give away your Mac - Apple Support

Do try an external enclosure connected to another Mac to retrieve any data you want to keep. You can also erase it from the Mac it's mounted to; I suggest using one of the higher security erases, zeroing at the very very least, but preferably stronger than that.

Of course the ultimate way to make sure no one gets at your data is to destroy the drive; I use a vice and a hammer or vice grips to bend the drive as far as possible, the use the vice to fold it totally in half.

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