Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Lost MacBook Pro on train. Help!

T

Tobymardles

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 27, 2015
5
0
I lost my MacBook pro yesterday after leaving it on an overground train in London. It was in a blue duffer of St George bag.

I have been tracking it via find my iPhone but so far it's been offline
I've also filled out an enquiry form on the TFL website.

I heard its good to enter the serial number online for Google serach indexing so:

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013)
Serial number: C02LKJ8JFGYY
 
Nothing anyone can do.

Hopefully someone will hand it in.

Also contact the police in case it gets handed in at a police station.

Keep your fingers crossed that someone is feeling good today.
 
Yes. I've been trying to track it using Find My jPhone but so far it's just been offline.

Yes I have spoken with lost & found and have given in a form.
 
Tobymardles said:
Yes. I've been trying to track it using Find My jPhone but so far it's just been offline.

Yes I have spoken with lost & found and have given in a form.
Click to expand...

Find My Mac and a curious thief is your best hope.

I also have Undercover anti-theft installed, which gives additional information like screenshots, keyboard scans, etc. Finally, I enabled firmware efi protection, which makes the thief stuck on the current OSX installation.

Now, the interesting thing, it's so first world losing a retina macbook in a train. A retina macbook is something from which it gets stolen, not lost. But I would love being able to lose such an expensive gadget. It's a sign that you're not afraid of being stolen in the first place.
 
  • Like
Reactions: wct097
I am not really able to lose my MacBook, it just happend unfortunately.

What computer/computers do you have?
 
Posted this elsewhere but this is an appropriate place to post it again. The first three things I do with a new MacBook are set an EFI password, turn on FileVault and turn on Find My Mac. Make sure there's a guest account so they can turn the machine on so Find My Mac will go active. You may or may not get the machine back. At least your data is as safe as possible and the chances of someone profiting from it are much reduced.
 
newellj said:
Posted this elsewhere but this is an appropriate place to post it again. The first three things I do with a new MacBook are set an EFI password, turn on FileVault and turn on Find My Mac. Make sure there's a guest account so they can turn the machine on so Find My Mac will go active. You may or may not get the machine back. At least your data is as safe as possible and the chances of someone profiting from it are much reduced.
Click to expand...

I don't like FileVault due to the guest account being nearly unusable. I prefer creating encrypted sparsebundles to store sensitive data. I know it's less safe than FileVault since data may be temporarily stored on RAM or the swap file, but I don't need ultimate safety and the Guest account behaves like a normal account.
 
brdeveloper said:
I don't like FileVault due to the guest account being nearly unusable. I prefer creating encrypted sparsebundles to store sensitive data. I know it's less safe than FileVault since data may be temporarily stored on RAM or the swap file, but I don't need ultimate safety and the Guest account behaves like a normal account.
Click to expand...

Interersting. I have never envisioned a use for a guest account. I wouldn't let anyone other than my wife or kids anywhere near my files, and I'd let them use the computer as "me," but my kids are 24 and 27. When they were younger, they didn't touch my computer. ;) My laptop travels five days a week and security is a key concern (and FV is only a part of what I consider safe computing :) ).
 
Well I received an email this morning tell me My MacBook had been locked, as someone had connected it to the Internet.

However for some reason MacBooks do not send last location so I am still unsure of its location.

Any ideas what I can do now? To ensure I don't miss it when it's next connected to the Internet.
 
Consider also putting the serial number on pastebin.com along with an email address or phone number because their pastes get indexed very quickly (few minutes).
 
Log into iCloud.com, select Find my Phone it will show locations of all your IOS & OX S devices. Works for me and I don't own any IOS device.

If your Mac is not shown it`s due to Find My Mac not being selected in the Notebooks preferences or a fix was not able to be completed.

As I say it`s moot as the resolution of fix is not enough to "pin point" the Notebook. time to deal with your insurance and also consider wiping the system, depending on how secure it is (Firmware Locked, FileVault 2) & most importantly what personal information you have on it.

Q-6
 
Last edited:
FWIW, my Macbook pro is showing pretty much my exact location on iCloud, sitting locked on my desk, connected to wifi at work. I suspect that if you check the "notify me when found" box, that you could get pretty close to knowing where it is if the person in possession of it uses the guest account to connect to the internet.
 
Just wanted to say good luck!
Hope you get it back.
Losing something as costly as a Mac can be a hard blow.
 
I'm on a cellular data stick connection and my Mac is still showing its location accurately to well within 10m. Might be a challenge if the location is a multiple dwelling such as a tower block but still useful potentially.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back