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Create hidden partition?

I am wanting to create a hidden partition, similar to the way Apple creates the recovery partition. Is this possible? That is, I could boot to the partition by holding down the option key, but it doesn't show up elsewhere. Searching has led me to some suggestions about modifying the /etc/fstab file to keep it from mounting, which is a step in the right direction (and could work if it's the best I can do) but the recovery partion goes a step farther, as it doesn't even show up in disk utility. Is there a way I can acomplish the same thing? Thanks.

2.4 GHz 20, Mac OS X (10.6.8), 3 GB RAM

Posted on Aug 9, 2011 10:10 AM

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3 replies

Mar 6, 2012 11:45 PM in response to Israel Brewster

I have same question. And cannot find anything useful. Old UNIX/Linux /etc/ based configs in most cases did not work (Apple make them obsolete) so fstab most like will not help you.
Question not "how to make it hidden" but how to configure system to not mount it in first place


For example I have several slice two of them for 10.6 and 10.7. Primary os is 10.7 so I need to configure system to prevent it mount particular slice (disk0s3 or so on). Most likely system use UUID ...


If you find something, could I ask you to share it?

Mar 7, 2012 12:44 AM in response to bigjoshua

Here is solution for this issue (Source: Apple Stack Exchenge)

Borrow a trick from Apple - set the partition type to something besides Apple_HFS. The Apple_Boot partition type is used by Lion Recovery, and should provide the exact behavior you want. This process is NOT for the faint-of-heart, and you should definitely have a backup. If any of this process is unclear, DO NOT DO IT. Note that all numbers and drive names will be different on your computer.

First, determine which "BSD disk" your target drive is. Very likely disk1, but not necessarily. For example, this is my current system:

bash-3.2$ diskutil list /dev/disk0 #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER 0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *120.0 GB   disk0 1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk0s1 2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh SSD           119.2 GB   disk0s2 3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3 /dev/disk1 #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER 0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *320.1 GB   disk1 1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk1s1 2:                  Apple_HFS Secondary HD            319.7 GB   disk1s2

What follows is a copy-paste-edit job from Dmitry Dulepov:

We need to change the type of this partition. This involves noting partition parameters, deleting and creating a patition with gpt. Firsts, let find out parameters:

bash-3.2$ sudo gpt show disk1 start       size  index  contents 0          1         PMBR 1          1         Pri GPT header 2         32         Pri GPT table 34          6 40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B 409640  246725744      2  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC 247135384     262144 247397528    1269528       3  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC 248667056    1402591 250069647         32         Sec GPT table 250069679          1         Sec GPT header

Next, delete and add the partition. Note that we use values found on the previous step.

bash-3.2$ sudo gpt remove -b 247397528 -s 1269536 -t 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC disk1 disk0s3 removed bash-3.2$ sudo gpt add -b 247397528 -s 1269536 -t 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC disk0 disk1s3 added

Notice the different GUID. That is important because it tells OS X the type of the partition.

Check if everything is ok:

bash-3.2$ diskutil list disk1

You should see what had previously been an Apple_HFS partition should be listed as Apple_Boot. Such partitions are bootable on an Intel Mac without being auto-mounted by a running system. Repeat this general process with each partition that you want to "hide" normally.

Apr 3, 2014 9:13 AM in response to bigjoshua

CCC Carbon Copy Cloner has a utility called "Disk Center" that is included with CCC that will create a Recovery Partition for you. I understand that CCC is not free, but it does have a free 30 day trial.


The "Disk Center" in CCC Carbon Copy Cloner is not obvious or easy to find, unless you know where to look for it (in the Window menu pulldown)... it's easy to miss. Once you find it in the CCC menu system, it is a quick (<5min) turnkey way to create a Recovery HD Partition on any disk, internal or external.


I thought I should share this, since I burned several hours of pain-staking research and experimentation in search of how to create/re-create a "Recovery HD" Partition for my MacBook Retina Mavericks laptop. My journey was varietal, including:

  1. Successfully using a manual set of instructions with Terminal to execute a multi-step approach that worked ( http://www.macworld.com/article/2056561/how-to-make-a-bootable-mavericks-install -drive.html )
  2. As well as a utility from musings.slivertooth.us that worked for me as advertised. Only problem is that while I appreciate and respect the great utility that guy created, my risk-averse nature prevents me from using a non-commercial utility to muck with the low-level details of my boot drive. Great job, but I prefer CCC since it's backed by a commercial SW company. Here's his great uility, as referenced in Apple discussion threads like this one: ( http://musings.silvertooth.us/2012/03/restoring-a-lost-recovery-partition-in-lio n/ )
  3. Therefore, I was relieved to discover that CCC has a utility specifically designed to do this for me.


FYI: How did I find myself in this position? I lost my Recovery HD partition because I used Super Duper to Clone my HD/SSD, and subsequently restored my MacBook at one point. Super Duper has worked awesomely well for me for several years. It clones HDs/SSDs without a glitch, and makes them bootable automatically. The only gap or lack of function I have discovered is that "Super Duper" does not Clone the "Recovery HD" Partition. CCC Carbon Copy Cloner does. So, while I like Super Duper, I'm switching to CCC Carbon Copy Cloner for my backups from now on.


Disclaimer: I don't work for CCC. I'm just an I/T Professional that needed to figure out how to create/re-create a Recovery HD Partition...

Create hidden partition?

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