Sending Mac off to repair which contains private business data

[james-bailey]

Just a general question really but if I was to send my MacBook Pro off to get fixed (which contains all my business data, not to mention all passwords to access websites etc) what is the best way to protect it?

I’ve just installed a new SSD and realised how quickly
And easily a HD can be cloned!

 

[Apple_Robert]

Make 2 backups of important files, do a clean install of the OS, and then create a temp admin account with a password you provide.

 

[Lihp8270]

Just a general question really but if I was to send my MacBook Pro off to get fixed (which contains all my business data, not to mention all passwords to access websites etc) what is the best way to protect it?

I’ve just installed a new SSD and realised how quickly
And easily a HD can be cloned!

Install a blank drive with nothing but the OS on it

 

[4sallypat]

Remove the SSD and let them use their external bootable devices to test it out.

 

[KaliYoni]

I maintain two backups of my computer: one uses Time Machine, the other uses Carbon Copy Cloner. The TM drive is always connected while the CCC drive is only connected for a weekly backup or a backup just before installing an OS update.

I also use FileVault to encrypt my SSD (since you store sensitive and valuable information on a portable computer, you definitely should use encryption if you aren't already!).

So if I was facing your situation, I would first run both a TM backup and a CCC backup. Then I would do a clean install of macOS, as others here have suggested, and not migrate any of the backed up data.

After the repairs are completed, I would do another clean install and first try restoring from the TM backup. If that didn't work, I'd use my CCC backup.

 

[mikzn]

Install a blank drive with nothing but the OS on it

this is what I would do too - and make at least one bootable drive / back up of the previous system you were working with - this would provide the repair vendor with a working mac (complete) and also make sure they hand it back to you working - it would also make sure they have no acces to your logins, icloud data, and private docments etc.

I would not encrypt the drive or use "file vault" since this may complicate things for the repair vendor and there is no need to encrypt a drive that has no private info to protect.

 

[psingh01]

I would swap the drive out with one that has a clean install like others said. That is what I used to do with my older MBP when I took it into an Apple Store. As well as Thinkpads when they got service elsewhere. When my iphone needed a screen repair I would backup then wipe everything (and restore when I get it back).

You can’t swap drives on newer macs but they should be encrypted anyway. There is no reason why apple or any other vendor would need to decrypt your data to do a repair. Just be sure to have backups incase they wipe your data or replace the storage entirely as part of the repair.