How to Erase Startup Disk on macOS Ventura?

PAGE CONTENT:

If you want to permanently erase data after upgrading to macOS Ventura, you come to the right place. Disk Utility can help you erase startup disk on macOS Ventura and you also can use a professional data wiping tool to permanently erase data on a macOS Ventura Mac.

Disk Utility is Mac's native software for wiping hard drives. Mac Disk Utility can't delete the hard drive. Different factors cause this. This article can help if Mac's Disk Utility can't delete a hard drive.

Securely erasing a disk or partition removes secret data. Disk Utility erases only the access information for files when deleting a disk or partition. Many disk recovery applications can retrieve files. Disk Utility overwrites erased files while securely wiping a disk or partition. Choose how often to overwrite files. Writing across files several times is safer but slower.

Erasing a disk securely erases all partitions. Securely wiping a partition deletes its files but not others. CDs, DVDs, and SSDs can't be securely erased. Full disk encryption prevents SSD data recovery.

How to Erase the Startup Disk on macOS Ventura?

If you want to erase startup disk on your Mac, you should use macOS Recovery mode to get erasing tool - Disk Utility for Mac to wipe the startup disk. Here we will show you the detail steps to wipe the startup disk of macOS Ventura.

Step 1. Backup Your Data:

The files on your Mac should be backed up before you do anything else. Using an external hard drive and some manual file copying might accomplish this. Using iCloud,s all your data, pictures, emails, contacts, documents, etc., will instantly be backed up to the cloud.

However, you should take the time to create a Time Machine backup of your computer on an external device, as we strongly advise you to do this. Then, during the installation of macOS, you can use Apple's Migration Assistant to swiftly copy all of your data from the old Mac to the new one by pointing it at the same backup disk.

You also can use a disk cloning application to help you create a full copy of your Mac: create a bootable clone backup for Mac >>

Step 2. Sign out of your accounts:

Once you've finished transferring everything to your new Mac or performing the last backup to ensure the safety of your data, you should wipe your old Mac clean. You should start by logging out of every Account you have. This method used to be handled through iTunes, but now three separate apps (Music, TV, and Books) must be signed out of separately. Launch one of these programs, then navigate to Account > Authorizations > Deauthorize This Computer. Enter the ID and password, and then click Deauthorize.

The next step is to log out of iCloud , select System Settings > Apple ID on the left side of the screen. Scroll down to the bottom and click the Sign-Out button.

You must log out of Messages at this point. Launch the app, navigate to Messages > Settings, select the iMessage tab, and click Sign Out to sign out of iMessage.

Step 3. Enter macOS Recovery mode to erase startup disk:

Turn on your Mac, continue to press and hold the Power button until you see the startup options window. Select Options, then click Continue. (for Intel Macs, just click Cmd - R keys and start Mac)

If asked, select a user you know the password for, then enter their administrator password.

If asked, enter the Apple ID and password previously used with this Mac.

From the utilities window, select Disk Utility and click Continue.

Then select the Mac disk and click on Erase button to securely erase all data from the startup disk.

Back to previous utilities window, if you want to start up again from the disk you just erased, select Reinstall macOS in the utilities window, then click Continue and follow the onscreen instructions to reinstall macOS.

💡 Note: the erased data is not lost forever and can be recovered by data recovery software, check guide: recover lost data after upgrading to macOS Ventura >>

What to Do If Disk Utility Won't Erase Disk?

If you failed to erase the startup disk of macOS Ventura even in Recovery mode, there might be issues with the startup disk. You can try to fix the disk issues or try to erase all the volumes one by on on the startup disk on the Mac.

Option 1. Fix the errors of the startup disk and try again:

Assuming you want to delete files from an external disk and not your starting volume, you should first use Disk Utility to try to fix it.

To delete a disk, open Disk Utility and choose it (if it's not already highlighted in the sidebar, select View > Show all Devices from the menu).

Pick First Aid from the menu.

Just hit the Run button.

Disk Utility will repair your disk as soon as it is finished.

Try wiping the startup disk once again after the fixing procedure is finished.

Option 2. Erase a volume instead of the entire disk:

If you have more than one volume on an external disk and want to delete everything, you should erase the volumes individually. Choose the volume underneath it; click the down arrow next to the disk's name to view it in Disk Utility's sidebar, then click Erase.

Permanently Erase Data on macOS Ventura

After erasing the startup disk of macOS Ventura using Disk Utility in Recovery mode, you can reinstall the macOS and start the Mac again. If you will keep the computer for further use by yourself, you can just continue to configure the settings, reinstall applications and import data.

However, if you will sell or donate the erased Mac, it's not safe enough. Because the data is still recoverable even after being erased by Disk Utility. You need to permanently wipe the data to ensure the data is no longer recoverable.

If you want to permanently erase data in macOS Ventura, just try data erasure software. Donemax Data Eraser for Mac is a certified data erasure application which offers military level data erasure algorithms to help in erasing data permanently.

How to wipe the data permanently after the above erasing process? After erasing the startup disk and reinstall the macOS, all your personal files on the drive is removed. So you need to use the software to wipe the free space of your startup disk. In this way, the software can wipe all the removed/lost data from the free space of the disk. Then the removed data is gone for good. Here is how to do the job step by step:

Step 1. Run the software and change to Erase Free Space which can permanently erase all deleted/lost data on a hard drive without affecting the existing data on the hard drive.

Step 2. Select your startup disk and click Erase Now button, it will pop up a windows and you need to select a data erasure standard from the drop-down list.

Step 3. Confirm it and click Continue button to start wiping. It may take a while and all removed/lost data on the drive is permanently destroyed once the process is completed.

Other data wiping options

There are some other options available to wipe data on macOS Ventura:

Erase Files/Folders - permanently shred files on macOS Ventura startup disk. It can also be used to shred folders and files on other drives.

Erase Hard Drive - erase all data from a hard drive. You can use it to wipe a entire volume (non-system) and ensure all existing and lost/deleted data is permanently gone.

Conclusion:

In case of an app crash or other serious problem, resetting the Mac to its factory settings is a common recommendation in Mac how-to guides. In addition, we always do factory data restoration on Macs before selling or donating them to ensure the safety of our private information.

Follow the steps above, you can securely erase startup disk on macOS Ventura. Always to back up important data first to keep your data safe.