I want to erase all personal information on my mac. When i format the HD, should i only erase the macintosh HD or also erase the other options it gives me?

I'm selling my Macbook Pro and would like all personal information to be gone FOREVER! No possible way for the buyer to be able to recover my information. Do i only need to format the Macintosh HD or do i need to erase every option it gives then just reinstall mountain lion?

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
If you don't want that your data can be recoverable by its owner, you can use one of the Disk Utility's secure erase options.
To access to that option, hold Command and R keys while your computer is starting, open Disk Utility and, after selecting Macintosh HD and going to the Erase tab, press "Security Options" and select one. This will take a few hours, but you can be sure the files won't be recoverable by the owner.
Finally, reinstall OS X. Note that the owner won't be able to reinstall OS X because it's registered to your account, so he/she may have issues. In this case, if you upgraded OS X in the computer, you can download OS X from the App Store and create a bootable DVD or USB drive with OS X Mountain Lion with Lion Diskmaker

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Removing all personal information from e-Mac.

I have just purchased a new i-Mac and whilst I have no problem in transfering all of my stored information from the e-Mac to the i-Mac I am concerned about erasing every bit of personal information from the machine, from e-mail access information to any passwords stored on the machine. How can I be sure that this is all done yet have a saleable e-Mac with all of it's software intact?

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HT201274 This does NOT erase all personal information

This does NOT erase all personal information! I have performed this and assumed it did what it's supposed to do. IT DOES NOT. There is STILL personal info left on the device! I want to know how to completely erase the device (iPod Touch 8g).

I wondered about the same thing since I have an extra ipod I'd like to sell on eBay. I tested "Erase All Content and Settings" and can confirm Checkmate357's posting. At the very least, your AppleID remains on the device after "Erase All" and can be found by setting up the "new" ipod then going to settings / app store. I agree that this is a serious matter and it makes me wonder what else might slip through the cracks during "Erase All."
Even after signing out then repeating "Erase All," I found the device would recover my Apple ID and attempt to use it to sign into the APP store.
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It's my understanding that solid state media is easier to reformat and erase because you don't have to rewrite over existing files. If this is true, then this problem should be easy for Apple to remedy this, if it is indeed a problem.

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My camera button fell off my Droid X so they sent a replacement. First of all the guy at Verizon was wrong because "everything including by personal backgrounds and ringtones" did not switch over, just my contacts.
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Use this process...
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Hello jodeebryant,
In order to remove all personal information from the BlackBerry you are first going to want to ensure the memory card and SIM card have both been removed. Whoever you sell it to will need neither for the BlackBerry to function or can get their own.
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If this or any posts in this thread were helpful please Kudos the author.
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Removal all personal information from macbook before sending to reseller

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http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5668
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This is my first time posting here, so I'm sorry, I re-read my post several times and honestly did think I provided enough information, but you're right, it wasn't the right kind. So please (continue to) bear with me, I'm really not trying to be ignorant. I honestly assumed the issue was something I was doing wrong in Bridge, nothing to do with my computer specs.
I am using a late-2008 Macbook, running Yosemite 10.1.1 (screenshot below)
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Here is a screenshot of my System Overview on the Mac
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I am also using a Dell desktop with Windows 8, running Photoshop CC 2014 (2014.2.1 release, 20141014.r.257 x32) and Bridge CC 6.1.0.116 x32 (on a separate CC account with separate files that I don't try to sync or anything)
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I have not recieved any error messages
I am not having issues opening raw files, I am not having printing issues, I have listed the troubleshooting steps I have taken.
Is there any information you need that I missed? I'm trying not to be a dingus, but I'll have to ask you to be patient with me in the meantime. I haven't ever looked up half the hardware/software details that were suggested and I don't know how to off the top of my head, so I provided what I already knew how to

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Solved!
Go to Solution.

Overlays normally are erased when you acquire a new image. You could create the overlays on a separate image, then copy the overlays to each new image before you display it. The other option is to recreate the overlays for each new image.
Bruce
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edited 2x

I want to erase all personal information on my mac. When i format the HD, should i only erase the macintosh HD or also erase the other options it gives me?

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