Fresh Install of El Capitan.

Hello gang. I think I already know the answer to this one but thought I would check with the experts to make sure.

I have a new Retina iMac 27 arriving next Wednesday and I am giving this machine to my Son. I am going to have to wipe the drive and do fresh install of El Capitan. I have made a Thumbdrive of El Capitan with Diskmaker x 5. Does the panel think that will do the trick. If I boot from it will I be able to erase the drive then re-install the OS from that.

Regards,

Gandalph

Yes indeed. And you knew the answer you crafty devil.

But that's not all there is to giving away or selling a used Mac.
Please read this before erasing your Mac; https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065
You may already have a Time Machine backup, if not consider a bootable clone. Not only does it offer insurance into the future that you will always be able to recreate your device even temporarily on another Mac but as a copy it will allow you to transfer your files as you need them to a new machine with a new Operating System. Or if you don't mind a little extra baggage you can just clone your old machine directly onto the new one. This will retain all of your subscriptions and activation keys for third party apps as well as browser tabs, history and passwords, preferences and settings.
Having said that there is nothing like a brand new "Clean" instal but so long as you had no software problems with your previous OS it's a very tempting option.

What OS X version came with the computer? You should give it to him with the OS X ( or, if much older MBP, Snow Leopard) that came with it and let him "Get" El Capitan with his Apple ID.

Thank you Harryb, you got me. I was sure that would do the trick but thought I would ask the experts first. A sort of confirmation.

Rod, thank you, Yes indeed, I already knew about logging out of iCloud and messenger and also to De-authorise this machine from my Apple account. I do have a Time Machine backup. It has been connected to this machine since the day I got it. Thank you for your response. I will be using it to reinstall my apps and key chain and all the rest of it. (Please correct me I am wrong here, as I have never done it before). The new machine will be arriving with El Capitan installed, (I Assume) and will be just a matter of pressing Command + R and selecting the 'Restore from Time Machine Backup', that should put me back to where to old machine left off.

ferrarr, I have the original (Grey) Snow Leopard disc that came with this machine (2010) which I will give to him as well. Thank you for your input.