Could someone retrieve account info from my 2016 MacBook Pro which has a faulty logic board. I will get rid of it now that I have an iPad Pro and can sell it, but since I can not switch it on, I can not log out or delete or erase any data.
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.1
The data can still be accessed on the Logic Board since the 2016 Touchbar model has a special connector on the board that allows AASPs to retrieve data from the SSD when the Logic Board has failed. Plus if someone sent the Logic Board to a professional data recovery service, then they could definitely pull data from the SSD even if this special connector did not exist.
Did you have Filevault enabled? Then the data is as safe as the password used for your admin user accounts which protect the encryption key on the SSD.
If Filevault was not enabled, then the data is accessible to anyone who can use the special connector on the Logic Board, anyone who can repair the Logic Board, or anyone with skills & tools that a professional data recovery uses.
You could see what it would cost to have an Apple Authorized Service Provider use the special Apple device to connect to the SSD and erase the SSD for you to destroy your personal data. I don't know whether an Apple Store provides this service or not, but you could ask.
If you have the non-Touchbar model, then the SSD is removable, but it uses a proprietary Apple PCIe SSD connector that is unique to this Mac, but I am not aware of any USB Adapters for it. Without an adapter the SSD cannot be erased or used elsewhere. Just because there may not be an adapter does not mean that someone could not make their own adapter to access the data. Unfortunately this means Apple or an AASP will unlikely be able to erase the removable SSD for you.
The data can still be accessed on the Logic Board since the 2016 Touchbar model has a special connector on the board that allows AASPs to retrieve data from the SSD when the Logic Board has failed. Plus if someone sent the Logic Board to a professional data recovery service, then they could definitely pull data from the SSD even if this special connector did not exist.
Did you have Filevault enabled? Then the data is as safe as the password used for your admin user accounts which protect the encryption key on the SSD.
If Filevault was not enabled, then the data is accessible to anyone who can use the special connector on the Logic Board, anyone who can repair the Logic Board, or anyone with skills & tools that a professional data recovery uses.
You could see what it would cost to have an Apple Authorized Service Provider use the special Apple device to connect to the SSD and erase the SSD for you to destroy your personal data. I don't know whether an Apple Store provides this service or not, but you could ask.
If you have the non-Touchbar model, then the SSD is removable, but it uses a proprietary Apple PCIe SSD connector that is unique to this Mac, but I am not aware of any USB Adapters for it. Without an adapter the SSD cannot be erased or used elsewhere. Just because there may not be an adapter does not mean that someone could not make their own adapter to access the data. Unfortunately this means Apple or an AASP will unlikely be able to erase the removable SSD for you.
That is very helpful, thank you. I have the touch bar version. I think, rather than sell it for parts, I’ll ask Apple to recycle it and wipe it in the process.
Hard drive readable on faulty logic board?
