Sending Macbook Pro in... Reformat???

[wayland1985]

Hello all,

I'm sending my macbook pro in for repair (Sound card and overheating). Do you think I'll need to reformat my HD before sending it in? I have numerous phone numbers, my email accounts, iChat friends etc etc that I don't feel like having tampered with. Should I be worried about sending it out to apple? Or should it be fine as is??? 😕

 

[greenmymac]

Hello all,

I'm sending my macbook pro in for repair (Sound card and overheating). Do you think I'll need to reformat my HD before sending it in? I have numerous phone numbers, my email accounts, iChat friends etc etc that I don't feel like having tampered with. Should I be worried about sending it out to apple? Or should it be fine as is??? 😕

To be safe I would.... besides I think apple reformats the Hard drive when they get it anyways

 

[Eddyisgreat]

It more than likely won't get tampered with:

Name : Joe User
Address : 1 Infinite Loop, Ca
Number : AAPL IS IN UR DATA CHANGN' UR NUMZ
Notes : Guy who owes me 50 bucks.

Then again, anything less than 3 zero writes probably won't be able to keep them out (boot into disk utility)

If your really sensitive about it then do what I've described and do a fresh install. They will need to log into your machine anyway, and if you want it back within a reasonable amount of time, let them get it out of the queue as soon as possible.

 

[alphaod]

Well if you're worried about sensitive data, I would perform a Time Machine back up, then 3x Wipe the drive and reinstall the OS. When you get back, restore from Time Machine.

I just ripped out the drive and put another one in for the repair.

 

[nephilim7]

yeah what he said.

I backup then secure wipe, then install the default OS.

 

[hitnrun7]

i'd do way more than three times wipe... i have some very sensitive data on my MBP (not exactly mart i know, as its a laptop...).

 

[darwinian]

I never ever relinquish control of my computer without backing up all my data to an external and wiping the drive clean, usually with the 1-pass zero writing and reinstalling the OS and updates. This does a couple of things: it helps to establish a hardware/software problem's reproducibility under clean conditions and it gives me total peace of mind that my data is not in the wrong or curious hands.