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If I change the hard drive of a locked stolen MacBook (via Find My iPhone) for a new one, does it go back to normal?

I got my MacBook stolen from my car and i was wondering whether i should lock it or erase it. I would like to lock it if it makes it unbreachable, otherwise i will erase all the content. So i was wondering, if they swap the hard drive of a locked macbook for a new one, does this make it useable?

Posted on Feb 15, 2018 6:37 AM

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Posted on Feb 15, 2018 7:39 AM

It depends, if there is a firmware password set replacing the hard drive will have no effect so use of the Mac will not be possible. If on the other hand there is no firmware password set it will be easy to re-use the Mac.

5 replies

Feb 15, 2018 8:59 AM in response to Limnos

Limnos wrote:


Wouldn't all this also depend upon if it is even possible to replace the drive? I was under the impression that pretty much all Apple computers (certainly notebooks) these days have everything soldered in place and components cannot be replaced unless you can do micro-soldering.


I thought unless there was a firmware lock one could still be reformatted using target disk mode, Recovery HD, or Internet Recovery.

If I change the hard drive of a locked stolen MacBook (via Find My iPhone) for a new one, does it go back to normal?

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