Keeping Data Private

Question

AppleCare wants me to bring my Mac in for hardware diagnosis tomorrow morning (Eastern Time). My intent is not to leave it there, but to wait until it's either given a "clean bill of health," repaired, or diagnosed for future repair (if a part needs to be ordered).
My only concern is that I have a lot of confidential information scattered across quite a few files in various folders.
I could, of course, delete those files (and hope that I don't miss any!) and rely on my TM backup and SuperDuper! backup to restore them later. However, I'd prefer not having to do that.
What's the best way to prevent my files from being accessed, while still enabling the techs sufficient system access to perform both a hardware diagnosis and (if they need to) a software diagnosis?

Answer 1

Enabling FileVault should take as much additional space as the contents of your home folder. To find out how much is there:
-Login to the primary account
-Select Finder from the dock
-Select Go menu->Home
-Select File menu->Get Info
-Note the Size - if it's more than the amount available shown at the bottom of the home folder then you're right. It's always good to have a few GB free as well.
Here are the steps to proceed:
Move sensitive files to the primary account
-Login to the primary account
-Select Finder from the dock
-Select Go menu->Home
-Move sensitive files the home folder displayed (if they're not there already)
Enable FileVault
-Select Finder from the dock
-Select Go menu->Utilities
-Open Disk Utility
-Select your disk on the left
-Select Verify Disk- if the volume is not OK, do not proceed without repairing it and backing up again
-Do some test restores to be sure your backups are working properly- if not do not proceed
-Select Apple->System Preferences->Security
-Select the FileVault tab
-Select Turn On FileVault...
-Enter a Master Password
-Select the key to check the password strength
-Select Continue
-Enter your account password
-Select Use secure virtual memory
-Select Turn On FileVault (it may take a while for it to encrypt your information)
-Select Apple->System Preferences->Accounts
-Select + in the lower left corner (unlock the lock if necessary)
-Under New Account, change the type from Standard to Administrator
-Enter an account name, such as diagnostics, and a password- share this with AppleCare
-Select Create Account
Erase the free space on the drive
-Select System Preferences menu->Quit
-Select Disk Utility from the dock (or reopen it)
-Select your disk on the left
-Select the Erase tab on the top
-Select Erase Free Space...
-Select one of the erase options- more passes require more time
-Select Erase Free Space
That should do it!
Message was edited by: David Hanke