About T2 Chip
Knowledge About T2 Chip If You Have a MacBook 2018 and Later. Apple computers have a good reputation because of their system stability and security.
To maintain its advantages, Apple releases a T2 security chip on its latest Mac models. You can find a T2 security chip on MacBook Air/Pro 2018 and later, iMac mini 2018 and later, Mac Pro 2019 and later, and iMac Pro.
If you don’t know the exact model of your Mac, you can find the information on the chip by going to the Apple logo. About This Mac, System Report, and Controller.
You will see an Apple Security Chip there or a message “This computer doesn’t contain any Controller devices” telling you there isn’t a T2 chip on your Mac.
The security chip enhances the security of Apple computers to another level. Moreover, protecting your data on Mac’s SSD from theft and leaking.
What is the T2 chip and how does it make the Mac more secure?
If you could open a MacBook and see its motherboard, you would see a square chip labeled T2 with an Apple logo. That small piece of hardware chip is the T2 security chip discussed here.
According to Apple, they redesign and integrate several controllers such as System Management Controller, image signal processor, audio controller, and SSD controller and then deliver this second-generation chip.
The Apple security chip works as a separate processor that sits between the main Intel processor and the macOS. It takes control of some operations that used to be controlled by the main processor and adds new security capabilities. As a result, it adds another layer to data security.
Some new capabilities worth mentioning are:
Secure Boot
The Apple T2 Security Chip no longer allows a Mac to boot up from an external drive or an untrusted startup source. This prevents malware from trying to get into your Mac during startup. Or somebody wants to boot up your computer bypassing your password.
Hardware encryption
The T2 chip uses Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) hardware engine to encrypt the data in hardware. It automatically encrypts your data even when you don’t enable the FileVault (it is commended to enable it though). When the data is locked when it feels unauthorized accesses such as a couple of times of wrong password input, even a user’s correct password won’t be able to decrypt.
Secure Touch ID and Face ID
The newest Mac machines can allow Touch ID and Face ID to log in to the Mac and make payments online. The T2 security chip will protect your fingerprint and Face recognition better.
Unique encryption ID
Each Mac has a unique encryption ID with the T2 security chip, which makes it impossible to decrypt Mac’s SSD and read the data using another Mac or some.
Even though it is very good to have a T2-equipped Mac for security’s sake. The downside is the chip makes the data recovery from unbootable Macs extremely difficult using traditional methods.
For example, the target disk mode will allow you to migrate data from one Mac to another. Since the SSD of a Mac with a T2 chip will be unreadable on another Mac. Target disk mode doesn’t work anymore.
Also, users used to be able to boot the unbootable Mac from an external bootable disk created by data recovery software and then recover data. Since the T2 security chip forbids booting from an external source, using a bootable disk no longer works either.
Is it possible to restore data from a Mac protected by a T2 chip?
Until the first quarter of 2020, experts believed that data recovery and third-party repair for a Mac with a chip is nearly impossible.
We just got a news tip from iBoysoft, saying its iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac software had a breakthrough. The software is capable of restoring files from T2-secured Mac in the following scenarios:
- Files are deleted and emptied from Mac’s Trash.
- The APFS volume on Mac’s SSD is not mounted.
- APFS volume on Mac’s SSD is accidentally lost.
- The APFS volume Mac’s SSD is corrupted.
- The Mac can’t finish starting up because it is stuck in the white screen/Apple logo/loading bar/login screen.
iBoysoft recommends all users restore files in Recovery Mode for the best recovery results. According to iBoysoft’s article, the process of recovery is easy and convenient because no bootable disk is created and no software installation and launching are needed.
Conclusion
T2 chip data recovery, which was considered to be impossible before, can be achieved easily now. If you are those who are looking for ways to save files from your T2-protected MacBook Air/Pro, iMac Pro, Mac mini, and Mac Pro, take a look at iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac software.