What to Do Before Sending Macbook for Repair

We all hope that it volition never happen, only even Macs sometimes suspension. This article explains what you lot should practise – when possible – before your Mac goes for service or repair, so that when information technology returns you can get upwards and running as speedily as possible. Apple's advice is brief, but makes the two near important points:
"Before you return your Mac to us, be sure to enable FileVault and back up your data. You lot may need the backup if your Mac needs to be reformatted during the repair process. Apple isn't responsible for lost data."

Preparation

If your Mac is going in for service or repair, exist prepared for information technology to return with its internal storage wiped or replaced with new. Even if the repair shouldn't result in logic board replacement, that may prove necessary, and in many cases that will bring with information technology a replacement SSD.

If your Mac has a astringent error, you'll probably not take fourth dimension to make special preparations. But if you tin can, information technology's worth taking precautions before you lot take or ship your Mac off equally they will brand life so much easier when it comes dorsum. Ensure that you take a current Time Car backup just before shutting it downward, and/or make a bootable clone of its internal storage to an external drive.

If your Mac is anything similar mine, and total of lots of documents which would take a long fourth dimension to replace, you lot'll surely want to do both. Time Machine backups are invaluable, but sometimes don't work perfectly. A clone copy made using Carbon Re-create Cloner or SuperDuper gives you added flexibility, and a second copy of everything on your Mac.

If you store data on your Mac'south internal storage which needs to be protected, you lot should likewise think advisedly how all-time to ensure that it remains condom while your Mac is in the care of others. If the boot disk is already protected using FileVault, you shouldn't demand to do anything more. If your Mac has a T2 bit, turning FileVault on is instantly effective, as all the data stored on its kicking disk is already encrypted; information technology'south all the same worth turning information technology on, though, every bit that requires your countersign earlier the encrypted files can be accessed.

If your Mac doesn't have a T2 and FileVault isn't turned on, encrypting your whole kick volume can have a very long time. Consider creating another APFS volume using Disk Utility, making that encrypted, and moving the sensitive files to that. Don't forget to delete the originals, though.

The best sequence to follow is this:

1. When you lot're set, close all applications including Mail and social network browsers, set up to shut your Mac down.
2. Brand one last Time Machine backup, using the Support Now command in Time Automobile's menubar entry, and/or clone its internal storage to make a bootable backup on an external bulldoze.
3. Turn FileVault on, encrypt or remove all sensitive files.
4. Shut your Mac down using the Apple carte command, if you can.

Pack your Mac advisedly using its original packaging, if possible, and take or send it to Apple or Apple's Authorised Service Provider. I generally avoid sending any cables, input devices, or annihilation else when the work is to be done on the Mac itself. That way, there's nothing else to go missing.

Return

When your Mac returns, connect information technology to a minimum of essential peripherals and try starting it up normally. If it goes straight into the macOS setup sequence, restart into Recovery Mode and open Disk Utility. If nigh everything on your boot book has vanished, yous know that its internal storage has been wiped or replaced.

If your Mac has a T2 chip and yous want to apply a bootable clone to restore its contents, now is the time to open Startup Security Utility and enable it to boot from an external drive (encounter beneath).

If you need to restore your Mac's internal storage, you now take a pick of routes for that journey, which include:

• If your Mac boots into setting up macOS, you can follow the setup, and opt to drift from the external clone or your Time Automobile backup.
• Whatever happens, yous can choose a bootable external clone as your startup disk, and use Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to clone that back to your internal storage. Remember to use the Startup Security Utility in Recovery Mode to let this for a Mac with a T2 fleck, if y'all want that option.
• You can set macOS up as a new user, and migrate using Migration Assistant afterwards, or migrate manually if y'all really want to.

Whichever you lot choose, y'all'll want to ensure that your Time Machine backup or clone is connected past the fastest possible method, such as Thunderbolt 3, to make the process every bit rapid every bit possible.

T2 fries

A lot of users seem worried well-nigh trying to do whatever of this on a Mac with a T2 scrap. In fact, those newer models take one great advantage: the ease and speed with which yous can turn FileVault on prior to sending your Mac away. Try this on an older model with a well-loaded SSD, and it could exist many hours earlier the volume is encrypted.

The just real complexity with a T2 is when it comes to letting it boot from an external disk, if that is how you lot take decided to restore your internal storage when the Mac returns. So long as you lot're using a current version of the cloning tool, y'all don't accept to turn Secure Kick off at all. All you practice need to do is enable your Mac to boot from an external disk, something which is by default disabled on T2 models.

If you practise let a T2 Mac to boot from an external deejay, don't forget to restart in Recovery Manner, open up Startup Security Utility, and render its settings to normal, once you lot're happy that your migration is complete and your Mac boots properly from its internal storage.

Could Apple brand this easier?

Yes and no. If no boot volumes were encrypted, Apple and its Authorised Service Providers could automatically clone every internal disk on receipt, and restore those they needed to prior to despatch of the repaired Mac.

There are several snags with this, almost apparently the fact that it would risk giving service technicians admission to all your files. No matter how conscientious Apple and its providers may be, that puts a great deal of trust in technicians never being tempted to access sensitive data. It is besides impossible to brand such a process error-free, and the merest chance of someone else getting all your files by mistake wouldn't be proficient.

As it is, to protect the privacy of what is on your internal storage, Apple tree recommends that it is encrypted, which in turn makes it impossible to verify that a deejay has been properly restored and is fully functional. Thus yous couldn't trust such cloning to take been performed correctly, and it would offer no real comeback to the user.

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Source: https://eclecticlight.co/2018/12/13/prepare-your-mac-for-service-repair-and-restore-it-later/

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