How to prepare your Mac for service/repair, and restore it later

“We all hope that it will never happen, but even Macs sometimes break,” Howard Oakley writes for Eclectic Light Company. “This article explains what you should do – when possible – before your Mac goes for service or repair, so that when it returns you can get up and running as quickly as possible.”
“If your Mac is going in for service or repair, be prepared for it to return with its internal storage wiped or replaced with new,” Oakley writes. “Even if the repair shouldn’t result in logic board replacement, that may prove necessary, and in many cases that will bring with it a replacement SSD… Time Machine backups are invaluable, but sometimes don’t work perfectly. A clone copy made using Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper gives you added flexibility, and a second copy of everything on your Mac.”
“If you store data on your Mac’s internal storage which needs to be protected, you should also think carefully how best to ensure that it remains safe while your Mac is in the care of others. If the boot disk is already protected using FileVault, you shouldn’t need to do anything more,” Oakley writes. “If your Mac has a T2 chip, turning FileVault on is instantly effective, as all the data stored on its boot disk is already encrypted; it’s still worth turning it on, though, as that requires your password before the encrypted files can be accessed.”
Much more in the full article – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Make sure you’re backing up with Time Machine regularly. It can save you a world of hurt.
How to back up your Mac with Time Machine here.