Will A Clean Install Mac Wipe A Separate Partition?

How to clean install macOS Big Sur

Mac users may occasionally find themselves wanting to clean install macOS Big Sur onto a Mac. A make clean installation of macOS Large Sur basically means the unabridged hard drive – including the system itself, all data, all apps, user accounts, literally everything – is erased, and then a fresh clean install of macOS Big Sur is installed onto the Mac. In this mode it's sort of like a manufacturing plant reset or a fresh start, or what PC users sometimes refer to every bit reformatting, because there will exist goose egg left on the Mac at all, and booting it upward will be similar to booting upwardly a new Mac, with zilch user data or other stuff.

A make clean install is generally for avant-garde Mac users just, and is otherwise not recommended unless you're giving away a Mac or transferring buying, and take fully backed upwardly your data. Because it erases the unabridged hard disk and all data on the Mac, it will crusade complete information loss intentionally, so without sufficient backups the

Earlier proceeding, exist certain y'all take a total backup of the Mac, and whatever or all important data. Failure to have sufficient backups volition result in permanent data loss.

Make clean installing MacOS Big Sur 11 requires the following:

Mac compatible with macOS Big Sur and so that it can run macOS eleven.10
MacOS Large Sur kicking installer drive that has already been created and ready to use
Full Time Machine backup of all Mac data, or consummate information backup using your method of pick
Active net connectedness (required past macOS Big Sur for setup)
An understanding that a clean install erases all data and everything else on the Mac – nothing will remain on the estimator

Assuming you've met those prerequisites, and y'all understand what y'all're virtually to do and why you're doing it, hither's how y'all tin clean install macOS Big Sur on compatible Intel Mac or Apple tree Silicon Mac.

How to Make clean Install MacOS Large Sur (Reformat, Erase, & Factory Reset)

Alarm: This erases the entire Mac, setting it upwardly as if it were new once more. Do not proceed if you do not want to remove all data from the Mac.

Be certain you lot accept made a full fill-in fo the Mac
Connect the MacOS Big Sur USB installer drive to a USB port on the Mac
Shutdown the Mac or reboot
Next, kicking into Recovery Fashion, which differs depending on if information technology'south an Intel Mac or Apple tree Silicon Mac:

Intel Mac: Immediately hold the Option primal until the boot selection carte du jour appears on screen
Apple Silicon Mac: Immediately concur the Ability button until the kick choice screen appears

Select the "Install MacOS Big Sur" USB drive equally the boot disk
From the macOS Recovery / Utilities screen, cull "Disk Utility" from the options
In Disk Utility, select "Macintosh HD" (or whatever the name of the drive to erase and make clean install Big Sur onto is), then click the "Erase" button from the toolbar
Choose "Macintosh HD" as the disk name (or selection another if yous're so inclined), then go to "Format" and select APFS as the file organisation, and choose "Erase" – Alarm: ALL DATA ON THE MAC WILL Exist PERMANENTLY ERASED
When Disk Utility has finished formatting the deejay, quit Deejay Utility
Back at the 'macOS Utilities' screen, select "Install macOS" from the options available
Select "Macintosh HD" as the destination disk to install MacOS Big Sur onto, so cull "Install" to brainstorm the procedure of installing a fresh version of MacOS Large Sur

* 1: The screenshots may expect slightly different from what you're seeing on screen depending on if yous're using an Intel Mac or Apple tree Silicon Mac, and what version of macOS currently is on the figurer – even so all functionality is the same

** two: You lot may demand to allow external booting of startup disks on the Mac to be able to use the bootable USB drive, depending on the computer security settings.

Practice non interrupt the process of clean installing macOS Big Sur onto the Mac, it will have a while, and the Mac may reboot automatically during the installation process.

When information technology has finished, the Mac will kicking directly into a fresh, new, clean installation of macOS Large Sur, and the setup process volition exist but as if the Mac was brand new and being turned on for the first time. No prior data, apps, or anything else volition be on the Mac.

Once you lot're booted upward in MacOS, information technology's up to you whether or not you want to go on with the setup process, transfer data back over to the Mac, ready it up equally brand new, or transfer ownership of the Mac to someone else.

Retrieve, a make clean install is finer the same as reformatting and manufactory resetting the Mac, which makes it useful for not only troubleshooting merely besides for transferring ownership of a calculator, if y'all plan on selling it or giving it to someone else.

If y'all're transferring buying of the Mac, turning it off will allow the new owner to basically set up it up as if it were new, able to either restore it from backups of their ain, or starting fresh as they wish.

While a clean install is used for various reasons, some advanced users perform a clean install as an avant-garde troubleshooting approach, particularly if they're encountering persistent issues with the system software that accept not been able to be explained or resolved through typical troubleshooting methods. If you lot're experiencing any problems with macOS Big Sur, y'all may find it useful to check out this tutorial for troubleshooting macOS Large Sur problems, to better sympathise why macOS Large Sur feels boring and how to speed it upwards, and review this guide on how to resolve wi-fi issues with macOS Big Sur if you're experiencing wireless networking bug.

Did you clean install macOS Big Sur? What was your reason? How did information technology get? Did yous utilize another arroyo to perform the make clean install, like using internet recovery? Let us know your experiences, tips, and thoughts with erasing and reinstalling macOS Large Sur in the comments.