Apple Store loaner computer

[alphaod]

So I got a loaner from the Apple Store.

Well turns out it's a new 2012 MacBook, though only the base model; I'm basing the fact that's new on the fact that it has only 1 battery cycle and the EFI update for 3 months ago hasn't been installed.

Well I had to do the initial setup, so out of habit I used my name; not sure if this was a good idea or not.

Anyways I'm wondering if anyone's gotten a loaner before and when you returned it, did you wipe the computer or did the Apple Store do it for you?

 

[Spink10]

Didnt think Apple gave loaners - what was the situation?

 

[alphaod]

Didnt think Apple gave loaners - what was the situation?

It's an offer for JointVenture "business" customers.

Anyways my Mac Pro optical drive cover is jammed, so they're replacing the chassis and they're giving me a loaner as the repair will take about 2 weeks.

 

[mobilehaathi]

Wow, how did you get them to give you a loaner?

Edit: I see!

I'd definitely do a full erase and reinstall before I return it.

 

[T5BRICK]

Well I had to do the initial setup, so out of habit I used my name; not sure if this was a good idea or not.

Anyways I'm wondering if anyone's gotten a loaner before and when you returned it, did you wipe the computer or did the Apple Store do it for you?

As the other poster pointed out, I'd initialize the drive for security reasons. Besides that Apple isn't going to care, they're just going to send the MBP to one of their repair facilities for refurbishing. They'll initialize the drive again, install a new copy of OSX and inspect the computer for any flaws that need to be repaired. Then it'll show up on the refurb section of store.apple.com.

 

[el-John-o]

It's worth mentioning that if there is sensitive data on the machine, perhaps just initializing the drive isn't enough. More than likely, a wiped drive is sufficient. However, you should be aware that a lot can be recovered from a wiped drive with simple free software (and a LOT can be recovered with some high end commercial stuff!)

If that concerns you, after initializing the drive, go into the recovery console (where you would re-install Mac OS before booting) and open disk utility, and select the option to 'erase free space'. This makes it MUCH more difficult to recover the data.

When you delete data on a hard drive, it doesn't actually get deleted. It just gets 'marked'. It's marked in such a way that the OS is made aware that it can 'write over' that piece of data later, because it's not being used.. but it's still there. The 'erase free space' option replaces all of that marked data with a "0". You can set it to do a number of passes, so many in fact that the best government agencies would have a hard time getting ANY deleted info off of that drive! (In case you are a super spy or something, LOL!)

-John