Computer going in for repair - best way to secure data?

Hi DKMac;

The last time I had to take a Mac into the shop I simply cloned the system drive to an external drive immediately before I took it in. I then took the Mac in and left the external drive at home. Now with Leopard since I am using Time Machine, I would take in the Mac and leave the TM drive at home.

Maybe I am not paranoid enough but I never deleted anything from my internal hard drive.

Allan

One of the rules about sending your computer in for repairs is, +Don't assume you will get your data back+. It is possible that the drive will be reformatted or replaced. So you absolutely must have a complete backup (or multiple backups) before sending it in.

So, once you have everything safely backed up... if you have sensitive data, delete it.

Just use SuperDuper to clone your whole drive to a bootable external drive.

Secure Delete all of your data files. Put the files in the trash, and in Finder, choose the "Secure Empty Trash" menu selection. It can take awhile for a large number or sizes of files.

Re-clone your drive back to the internal boot drive when the computer is returned.

Nothing gets changed, stolen or viewed, and nothing gets added...

Hi DKMac;

I guess since my level of paranoia is so low, I just clone with SD. If they don't wipe my disk out, I just carry on. My clone is just in case they are forced to wipe my disk. I guess I am just to trusting. My feeling is with all of the disks they have to work with why would they even care about what is on them at the service center. I know in all of the years I did systems support for IBM that is the way I handled the customer's data. Do my best to protect it. If push comes to shove and it gets lost, tell them so that they can recover it.

Allan

Sure, make a bootable clone of the entire hard drive with every file and setting intact. Then no matter what the repairmen have to do to your machine, you can boot from the external drive and reclone your OS back to the original drive, untouched by anybody.

Meanwhile, turn off Time Machine if you are using it and if you have sensitive files in the filevault or documents folder or emails you just delete them. You can use the secure delete to get rid of files you can locate, or you can just make all the changes you want in the programs like mail, iphoto, etc, and then use Disk Utility/Erase and choose the "Erase Free Space" button.

After you get your machine back, boot from the external clone and re-clone your external drive back onto the internal drive. Use System Prefs/Startup Disk to choose your internal drive for booting.

When all the work is complete and tested, you format the external hard drive and set it up as a Time Machine backup volume (unless you already have one). If the new OS is all set up on the same path and volume names Time Machine should just pick up where you left off. Maybe... It's worked that way for me.