Clean install of macOS Sierra after disk wipe
Excuse my ignorance, but I am just a mac user with limited in-depth IT knowledge. I am planning to use the Disk Wiper for mac to wipe my macbook air SSD. I would then like to perform a clean re-install of macOS Sierra using a bootable flash drive. I'd like to know if this is possible, or if the fact that I will have wiped the SSD will make it impossible for the bootable flash drive to work. In other words, does there need to be something left intact on the SSD for the install to do what it needs to do from the bootable flash drive? All of the clean install instructions I've seen involve using Mac's disk utility to erase the SSD. Thanks in advance.
Re: Clean install of macOS Sierra after disk wipe
Quote:
Originally Posted by
newuser
I am planning to use the Disk Wiper for mac to wipe my macbook air SSD.
Paragon just wipes your drive. After the wipe you need to start the mac in internet recovery mode (option+command+R) , it will allow you to install OSX fresh. Thats all.
Re: Clean install of macOS Sierra after disk wipe
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ffw
Paragon just wipes your drive. After the wipe you need to start the mac in internet recovery mode (option+command+R) , it will allow you to install OSX fresh. Thats all.
Thank you. I thought perhaps the disk wipe (as I only have one disk, the SSD) would also wipe the embedded recovery software.
Re: Clean install of macOS Sierra after disk wipe
Quote:
Originally Posted by
newuser
Thank you. I thought perhaps the disk wipe (as I only have one disk, the SSD) would also wipe the embedded recovery software.
Wiping the SSD actually WILL wipe the hidden recovery partition. But if you do a recovery boot as they suggested, and there's no local recovery partition, your Mac will download one across the internet. The OS install will create a new hidden recovery partition.
Pro tip: I just noticed a bug in High Sierra's Disk Utility that may also affect Sierra. If a drive is completely and totally blank, as it should be after getting wiped, Disk Utility won't show it, so you won't be able to select it. If you're caught by this, you can boot from an older OS, go into Disk Utility there, select the drive, and erase it. This will format and partition the drive enough for High Sierra's Disk Utility to find it without wasting your time installing an old OS; after that just boot from the flash drive and install whatever you want. When you do an internet recovery, you boot from the OS the system shipped with, so unless your system is new enough to have shipped with High Sierra this will let you work around that problem.
