OIT Apple FAQ


Best Practices before doing any Mac OS System Upgrade

  1.  Read the info on compatibility with your software:
    OS X: About incompatible software – https://support.apple.com/kb/HT3258?viewlocale=en_US
  2.  Always back up your data.
    1. Make a good and complete backup with Time Machine and/or make a copy of your disk with Disk Utility.
    2. How to back up and restore your files – https://support.apple.com/en-us/102307
      Time Machine 101 – https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201250
  3. Understand how to restore your backup (you did make that backup!) before you start.
  4. How to back up and restore your files – https://support.apple.com/en-us/104984
  5. Make sure that all software updates have been completed before upgrading.
  6. Repair the startup disk with Disk Utility before upgrading and after upgrading.
  7. Download the latest OS X install application from the App Store or from Software Licensing and install.

How can I get macOS on site license?

Apple provides all Apple Operating  Systems and updates with the hardware purchase and no additional license is needed.

Personal Computers

To get macOS for an individual home computer, download it from the App Store

Where can I find resources to help me with the Macintosh?

A list of resources that can be used to help solve macOS issues.

www.apple.com/support – Support
https://support.apple.com/en-us/102611 - Disk Recovery with Disk Utility
/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.app – Imaging, Disk Repair, Permissions
/System/Library/CoreServices/Software Update.app – Update Apple Software
/Applications/Utilities/System Profiler.app – Diagnostics
/Applications/Utilities/Console.app – Logs
Terminal commands ls, chown, chmod, etc, – File permissions
Other BSD command line tools like fsck in single user mode

How can I securely format my Macintosh Hard Disk?

Steps for securely erasing data on macOS

  1. Boot into recovery by restarting and holding down the power key
  2. Open Disk Utility.
  3. Click Erase on your external drive.
  4. For the Format, choose APFS (Encrypted).
  5. Set a strong password.
  6. Once the drive is formatted and encrypted, Erase it a second time, this time choosing regular APFS or ExFAT.
  7. By erasing an already-encrypted drive, the old cryptographic keys are destroyed, making all previous data permanently unreadable—–