Partitions are separate sections within one parent hard drive that is useful for handling hard drive data in an organized way. Under the Disk Utility app, Mac users can see the available volumes or partitions in the system, not the whole hard drive. Fix 1: Erase Mac Hard Drive by Enabling ‘Show All Devices’ Here are some methods that should fix the problem. Ways to Resolve The 'Disk Utility Can't Erase Mac Hard Drive' Issue:Ĭommon causes of the error include an outdated macOS device, a mounted drive, choosing the startup disk with the macOS software update, or corrupt sectors to erase. You should follow the right solutions to rectify the action and effect. You will see the option as greyed out or the 'Erase process had failed' prompt, and the issue can further harm the drive. In some cases, the Disk Utility does not accurately allow simple hard drive data removal.

Part 2: What To Do if Disk Utility Won’t Erase Your Hard Drive? Follow all instructions as they appear on the screen. Step 6: To start up the Mac device after deleting the volume, tap on the Reinstall macOS option under the utilities window and press Continue. Afterward, quit the Disk Utility function and go back to the utilities window. Step 2: Go to Utilities and choose Disk Utility > Continue. Add the user ID if the prompt to add this comes up, and put in your administrator password. Press and hold the Command (⌘) and R keys on the keyboard until the Apple logo appears. The ones mentioned here apply to Mac devices running with Apple silicon before the macOS Monterey version. To erase a hard drive, Mac users must follow the following steps accurately on their device. So, it would be best if you backed up everything so as not to lose important documents or information after you reset the hard drive and sell/trade/give the device.

Before doing so, know that the factory reset of the Mac device this way will erase all data permanently. You can access the Disk Utility app available on Mac and remove the data using different steps. 04 FAQs Part 1: How To Erase or Wipe Hard Drive on Mac Using Disk Utility?ĭifferent methods are available to safely and accurately wipe Mac hard drive in macOS devices.

Wipe mac hard drive