When did I turn on my Macbook for the first time?

Question

When did I turn on my Macbook for the first time?

Hi there ,
Does anybody know how can i figure at when did I exactly turn on my MacBook for the first time?
Is there any software out or is it somewhere stored ?

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.1), Time Capsule 500G

Posted on Oct 26, 2009 9:06 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Matt Clifton

Level 7

29,981 points

Oct 26, 2009 10:44 AM in response to sina_golesorkhi

There are probably other ways, but one method is:

In the Finder, open up the Users folder so that you can see your home folder in the right-hand panel. Go to the View - Show View Options menu, and tick "Date Created". The date created column for your home folder will be the date you first created your user - ie, likely to be the date you first turned on the Mac.

Matt

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Answer 2

Oct 26, 2009 1:25 PM in response to sina_golesorkhi

Hi

A possible way is to query .AppleSetupDone? On your Mac go to the Go menu and select Utilities. From there find Terminal and launch it. Issue this command:

ls -laeT /var/db/.AppleSetupDone

Or

ls -laeT /var/db/

You should see the Dates, Times, Years etc. The .AppleSetupDone file gets created after you've created the default Administrator account. Look for a file named .com.apple.iokit.graphics as it may be closer to initial power up? As far as I know it's as close as you can get to when you first switched it on? Subtract from the time listed approximately the two or three minutes it took you from initial power on to account creation and you should get almost the exact time?

If you've erased the drive there will be no way of going back beyond the time of erasure.

Tony

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Answer 3

Oct 26, 2009 1:25 PM in response to Antonio Rocco

Antonio Rocco wrote:
Hi

On your Mac go to the Go menu and select Utilities. From there find Terminal and launch it. Issue this command:

ls -l /var/db/.AppleSetupDone

You should see the Date as well as time. The .AppleSetupDone file gets created after you've created the default Administrator account. As far as I know it's as close as you can get to when you first switched it on? Subtract from the time listed approximately the two or three minutes it took you from initial power on to account creation and you should get almost the exact time?

Tony

No, it's the time that I've installed Snow Leopard and not the time, at which I turned on my laptop for the first time ( which is more than 2 years ago). I'm afraid that this data is somewhere deep down on the hardware.

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Answer 4

Oct 26, 2009 10:50 AM in response to Matt Clifton

No, unfortunately, as you said it's the day that I installed the OS and not the day that I turned on my MacBook for the first time .
For someone like me, who always installs fresh copy of OS( for example 2 months ago Snow Leopard)
and transfers the data from backups, that's not enough.
I know there is a software, which is called CoconutBattery, but it shows how old is my Mac but not the first boot .( since you can boot your mac for example 6 months after it is produced in the factory)

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Answer 5

Oct 26, 2009 1:30 PM in response to Lyssa

Lyssa wrote:
I'm not aware of anything that would be stored in the computer once the hard drive has been erased.

~Lyssa

That is exactly the point, there is always a battery, which keeps the clock on ( on the hardware), I'm not sure if it is also the case for Mac hardwares.(but usually it is so), and this data should be stored somewhere else, I know that the apple guys can access it ( I mean in Apple stores) but I want to know how can I do it myself( I don't know if they use any external hardware or measurement tool or find it via OS )

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Answer 6

Lyssa

Level 8

41,405 points

Oct 26, 2009 1:24 PM in response to sina_golesorkhi

I'm not aware of anything that would be stored in the computer once the hard drive has been erased.

~Lyssa

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