Atlassian uses cookies to improve your browsing experience, perform analytics and research, and conduct advertising. Accept all cookies to indicate that you agree to our use of cookies on your device.
Atlassian uses cookies to improve your browsing experience, perform analytics and research, and conduct advertising. Accept all cookies to indicate that you agree to our use of cookies on your device. Atlassian cookies and tracking notice, (opens new window)
Depending on chipset, Apple (macOS) Computers can be erased and diagnosed in different ways. Here is how to select a proper one.
Instructions
There are currently 3 types of Apple macOS Computer chipsets:
Legacy Mac without T2 security chip
Mac with T2 security chip
Mac with M chip (Apple Silicon)
All Macs (MacBook, iMac, Mac Mini, Mac Pro...) require internet connection for processing (erasure and diagnose).
For erasure only, if it is NOT an M chip Mac, you can just use Terminal in Recovery mode + Work macOS application on a properly formatted USB stick. Steps are as follows:
Go to Dashboard, Downloads page, and download latest macOS application:
Format a USB stick ON MACOS INTEL computer, using Disk Utility (open Disk Utility, select the drive by left clicking on the name in the list of available drives, then on button ERASE, give it a name you remember (in this example, it will be "SECURAZE"), and select HFS+, APFS or MacOS Extended (Journaled) as filesystem, with GUID partition map. Once completed, exit the Disk Utility. Open Finder, navigate to the SECURAZE volume, and copy the downloaded file to this formatted USB stick, and double click to unpack if it is in a zipped format. Rename the unzipped folder that you copied to SECURAZE USB stick to "work"
Once done, you can plug in the SECURAZE USB stick in a NON-APPLE SILICON Mac, turn the Mac computer on and press and hold Command + R to start the Recovery mode. Open the Terminal (navigate to the top bar and click on Utilities, find and click on Terminal). IMPORTANT: Terminal commands are case-sensitive. Make sure to use correct uppercase and lowercase form.
The commands are now as follows: cd /Volumes/SECURAZE/work *Enter*
./start.sh *Enter*
Securaze Work will start, and you can perform the erasure.
Legacy Intel Mac without T2 security chip - Diagnose & Erasure
For erasure and diagnose of Macs without T2 security chip (old, legacy Mac Intel computers, that do NOT support macOS Catalina) you can use a bootable drive with Securaze Work ISO. These Macs have limitations to information that can be extracted with Work Linux image, such as battery condition. To create the bootable drive, you need to use a Windows machine, download Securaze Creator Windows on it, and Securaze Work ISO from the Downloads page. Install the Securaze Creator Windows, run it, login with your Securaze user credentials, select the option to create a bootable drive, plug in the USB drive, select it, and finally, select Work ISO. Click on Continue. Wait until the process is complete, take out the USB stick, plug it into the desired Mac, and hold down "Option key" to select the volume with Securaze Work. Detailed steps can be found in the User Manual: Page 9
Intel Mac with T2 security chip - Diagnose & Erasure
For erasure and diagnose of Macs with T2 security chip (for example MacBook Pro 2018-2020, MacBook Air 2018-2020, iMac 2020, Mac mini 2018), you need a bootable external SSD drive, that will hold a suitable macOS version and the Work macOS application.
To create the bootable drive, you need to use an Intel Mac. Once you boot up the Mac, open the App Store, and download a preferred macOS (we suggest macOS Monterey, as it is the most compatible version for the broadest range of Intel-based Mac machines).
Plug in the external SSD into the Mac, select the volume as target for installation of the macOS, and continue until process is completed.
Now, this bootable drive is ready to be plugged into Mac Intel computers. Hold the Option key while the Mac starts, and select the drive.
Warning: Intel Macs with T2 security chip do not boot from external drives by default. Allow it once on every Mac you want to process: 1. Turn the Mac on and hold Command + R until Recovery mode appears. 2. From the top menu, open Utilities → Startup Security Utility, and authenticate with an administrator account of that Mac. 3. Under Secure Boot, select Medium Security. 4. Under External Boot (Allowed Boot Media), select Allow booting from external or removable media. 5. Restart the Mac, hold Option, and select the Securaze drive. The Startup Security Utility asks for the password of an administrator account on the Mac. On used Macs this password is often unknown; in that case use Recovery mode + Terminal (solution 1 in this article) for the erasure. This is an Apple limitation, and the external drive is the only way to run DIAGNOSE on these Macs. In case only erasure is needed, use Recovery mode + Terminal (solution 1 in this article) instead: no setting has to be changed on the Mac, and it is much faster.
When you boot into the macOS on the external SSD, open Safari, and navigate to Securaze Dashboard. From the menu item Downloads, open Work and download the latest version of the Securaze Work macOS application.
Once the application is downloaded into the Downloads folder, open the SecurazeWork folder,
and double click on the SecurazeWork application.
When the Work application starts for the first time, you will receive a warning pop up due to security reasons. Click on Open.
Next, you will be prompted to enter your admin (Mac User) password. This is NOT a Securaze password, but the password you use to log in to your Mac.
Click on Continue.
Mac with M chip (Apple Silicon)
For erasure and diagnose of Macs with M1/M2/M3/M4/M5 chip (Apple Silicon), you will need an Apple Silicon Mac with newest possible M chip (as new as the device you wish to wipe), and an external SSD (we recommend Samsung T7 SSD as a great performer). Make sure to always use the latest available M chip machine, to avoid incompatibility. For example, if you intend to process an M4 Mac, creating the bootable drive on M3, M2, or M1 Mac will result in failed operations on the M4. For M4 Macs, you must create the bootable drive using at least an M4 Mac. This bootable drive will then work on M4, M3, M2, and M1 Macs.
Steps to create the bootable volume:
1. Connect an external SSD to the Apple Silicon machine you are using, to the USB-C port that is closer to you.
3. After it is downloaded, select your connected external SSD as target volume, and install.
4. After installation, the Mac will restart, and boot the into the new macOS that you installed on the external SSD. You must complete the setup (Mac User setup).
6. Open Safari. Log into Securaze Dashboard. Open menu item Downloads, then Work, and download Securaze Work macOS application (currently the version is 5.18.66).
7. Run Securaze Work application by double clicking on the unpacked SecurazeWork folder in your Downloads folder:
The bootable drive is now ready to be used on Apple Silicon machines.
To process an Apple Silicon Mac using the bootable drive you created, simply connect it to the target machine, boot from this drive by pressing Power On key as soon as you hear the startup sound on the target machine, hold it, and select your volume once it appears (Start with Securaze bootable drive).
Open your Downloads folder, open the SecurazeWork folder, and double-click on SecurazeWork application.
When the Securaze Work application starts for the first time, you will receive a warning pop up due to security reasons. Click on Open.
Next, you will be prompted to enter your admin (Mac User) password. This is NOT a Securaze password, but the password you use to log in to your Mac:
Click on Continue.
Helpful articles to update already created bootable drives for processing Macs can be found here:
