Having to give Apple your password...

[papatoony]

I recently read somewhere that if you ever have to send your MBP in for servicing by Applecare that they may ask for your password to get into your account. Needless to say, I don't want to do that and would like to know if there's a way I can configure my MBP so that that won't be necessary if/when I ever have to send it in. For instance should I leave the main/admin account unused (no personal files on it)? I'm assuming that's the account they'd want to get into if they ever had to work on my MBP. Would that work? And if so, could I still do everything I need to do from one of the secondary user accounts? Like make changes to the system, make backups using Time Machine etc? I've never used any secondary accounts on my MBP before so I'm not sure what differences I'd run into.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

PS. I'm still using Snow Leopard if that matters

 

[SilentPanda]

If they have admin access to your machine I think they can get to your files even if they are under a different account. Your best bet would be to keep personal files encrypted either via FileVault or a 3rd party tool like TrueCrypt.

 

[Mal]

If you have any important data on the machine and you're paranoid about Apple accessing it, back it up and wipe it before you send it. Of course, Apple has no interest in your data, although they might wipe the drive depending on what service they perform anyways, but if you're worried, that's the only foolproof method that's worth anything. If you encrypt the drive, they may choose to wipe it if they need access and can't troubleshoot without doing so. Much simpler to just back it up and wipe the computer (assuming you can).

Remember, anyone with physical access can almost certainly get at your files if they want anyways, unless you have that good solid encryption, but since that will interfere with troubleshooting, it's not the best approach here.

jW

 

[papatoony]

If you have any important data on the machine and you're paranoid about Apple accessing it, back it up and wipe it before you send it. Of course, Apple has no interest in your data, although they might wipe the drive depending on what service they perform anyways, but if you're worried, that's the only foolproof method that's worth anything. If you encrypt the drive, they may choose to wipe it if they need access and can't troubleshoot without doing so. Much simpler to just back it up and wipe the computer (assuming you can).

Remember, anyone with physical access can almost certainly get at your files if they want anyways, unless you have that good solid encryption, but since that will interfere with troubleshooting, it's not the best approach here.

jW

Yea, I do back up my computer regularly but I'm just concerned I wouldn't get a chance to wipe the HDD if it crashed or something. I've had that happen once before with a MBP--it went to sleep and never woke back up! Had to exchange it for an entirely new Macbook and I'll never know where all my information on that HDD ended up. Pretty scary when you think about it.

 

[GGJstudios]

Yea, I do back up my computer regularly but I'm just concerned I wouldn't get a chance to wipe the HDD if it crashed or something. I've had that happen once before with a MBP--it went to sleep and never woke back up! Had to exchange it for an entirely new Macbook and I'll never know where all my information on that HDD ended up. Pretty scary when you think about it.

Apple wipes drives it keeps from returned or repaired computers. If you ask, they'll even show you that your drive has been erased or erase it with you watching, so your data can't be compromised.

 

[Orange Crane]

When I get a new computer I pull the hard drive and put a different (bigger than stock) one in. If the computer develops troubles the original drive with os and nothing else goes back in before sending it to service.

 

[SilentPanda]

Apple wipes drives it gets from returned or repaired computers. If you ask, they'll even show you that your drive has been erased or erase it with you watching, so your data can't be compromised.

They do not (always) wipe the drive if you are sending the computer in for a repair. That's what this thread is about.

 

[GGJstudios]

They do not (always) wipe the drive if you are sending the computer in for a repair. That's what this thread is about.

I specifically referred to the post I quoted, where the HDD wasn't returned to the user. No, they don't routinely wipe drives if the drive is not the problem or if the drive is returned to the user. For clarity, I edited the post to show drives that Apple keeps.

 

[Michael Anthony]

To fix a hardware problem there's no reason at all for them to need your password, when I was doing some tech work for them I'd always just boot it up from a USB drive.