Possible Duplicate:
If Macbook has been wiped, will “find my iPhone” still work?
I lost my Macbook Pro recently. I had activated iCloud on the computer, so Find My Mac is operable.
If the thief wipes the hard drive, and installs a fresh operating system, OSX Lion or Leopard, for example, then will I still be able to locate my device? In particular if the thief installs Leopard (which obviously doesn't support Find my Mac) will Find My Mac still work?
Best Answer
If the thief just wipes the harddrive, there is a slight chance that your device will still show up in Find My Mac as the association is saved in the NVRAM which persists even after a drive format.
However, if the thief or new owner clears the NVRAM in any way, or reconfigures iCloud with another account and enables Find My Mac for it, the association will be deleted or overwritten, and you will no longer be able to track your device.
See this question for more on the subject.