Recovery HD partition disappears when I install Mavericks. File Vault 2 can't be turned on.

Question

Recovery HD partition disappears when I install Mavericks. File Vault 2 can't be turned on.

Hi folks,

I've run into this issue and repeated internet searches don't turn up anyone else having the same problem.

Until a couple of days ago, I've had the most recent version of Mountain Lion installed with File Vault 2 turned on. Everything has been fine.

I did a clean install of Mavericks, and everything went fine with the install. During the post-install set up, I get a window saying that I used to have FV2 turned on, and that to do so again requires me turning it on in System Preferences. So I try to do that, but then I get a message saying that "some disk formats do not support the recovery partion that needs to be created...".

So I look (using both diskutil list and enabling the debug menu in Disk Utility) and see that the Recovery HD is gone. I don't know how to recreate it and don't understand the command line partitioning well enough to try it, so I try again with Mavericks, doing it the long way:

I do a clean install of Lion.
Boot up into Lion, and verify that the Recovery HD partition was created. It was.
Boot up from the Mavericks bootable USB I made, erase just the main partition I intend to install Mavericks on (again, I see Recovery HD exists).
Install Mavericks.
Boot up from the internal HD Mavericks, get the same note about turning on FV2 manually, and try to do so.
It fails again. I use diskutil and Disk Utility with the debug menu, and sure enough Recovery HD is gone and I cannot turn on FV2.

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong? I feel like this would be a more widely discussed issue if this were a pure Mavericks issue. But Apple is not giving us a lot of support for doing clean installs (all instructions I find are on tech nerd blogs), so I'm lost about where to begin.

Thanks for your help.

It is Thu Oct 24 08:32:28 MDT 2013.

< Thu 8:32am ~ > diskutil list

/dev/disk0

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.1 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS Tesla 499.2 GB disk0s2

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2010), OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Oct 24, 2013 7:35 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 24, 2013 10:16 AM in response to StrangeProportion

Well, I answered this one. Posting the resolution in case anyone else has the same issue.

The problem seems to be associated with the "clean install," which means I created a bootable USB thumb drive containing the BaseSystem.dmg disk image. (Following these instructions: http://www.gottabemobile.com/2013/10/22/perform-clean-install-os-x-mavericks/)

With the clean install already done, and my user data already copied over with migration assistant, I then did an update by Apple's recommended method (downloading from the app store and then installing from the Applications directory). After rebooting, the Recovery HD partition is there and both "Find my Mac" and File Vault 2 work as expected.

So the issue was related to the klugy way I tried to work around the approach Apple intended. It seems that if you need to do a clean install, the best way to do it is to do this (I have not tried this):

1. Perform a simple update to Mavericks from the App Store

2. Boot to the Recovery HD partition by holding down the option key when starting up

3. Use the Disk Utility available in the Recovery startup to wipe your main HD partition

4. Do a clean install of Mavericks on that partition from the Recovery startup

5. Reboot and copy user data over.

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Answer 2

Jored

Level 1

0 points

Oct 31, 2013 11:56 AM in response to StrangeProportion

FWIW, I did a clean install of Mavericks with a bootable USB drive, which I created following the instructions in this link:

http://www.gottabemobile.com/2013/10/22/perform-clean-install-os-x-mavericks/

The short method did not work. I succeeded with the longer method.

Mavericks installed without a hitch, after which I spent hours customizing settings, clean installing applications and restoring data from my prior Mountain Lion backup. No problems at all, just very time consuming.

However, I could not activate "Find my Mac" because the installer had not created a a Recovery HD. I trawled the forums and was discouraged by the apparent complexity of creating one.

This is what I did, which worked perfectly and required very little attention. It is almost automatic, fail proof and done in under an hour (with a fast internet connection to download Mavericks at just over 5GB).

1.- Back up the system. Better still, clone your system to an external HD using Carbon Copy Cloner.

2.- Download Mavericks from the App Store.

3.- It will warn you that you already have 10.9 installed. Download anyway.

4.- When it finishes downloading you'll get a window prompting you to install. Confirm.

5.- Enter your user password when prompted.

6.- Go for a walk. In about 45 min your system will have restarted Mavericks and all your settings, applications and data will be there.

7.- Check that you now have a Recovery HD by restarting the system, holding the Option key down when you hear the startup gong. You'll (hopefully) see the system HD and the Recovery HD (10.9).

Hope this will help someone.

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Answer 3

Nov 14, 2013 6:20 PM in response to Jored

Jored,

I followed your instructions and got FileVault running on my Mac Mini 2009 in about 45 minutes as you noted. Dude you rock! I'm sending you a virtual beer.

How I got into this situation was a result of an upgrade to Mavericks from Mountain Lion via the Mac App Store. I think the new version of the Apple Mail app's gmail bug (well documented everywhere) caused a bunch of duplicate messages to be downloaded such that it filled up my boot drive to capacity.

When I tried to reboot to fix some errors that were cropping up (I was getting all these weird errors about not being able to move items into the trash) it wouldn't boot. Somehow my partition map appeared to be hosed (that's when I noticed that the disc was completely full). No amount of Disk Utility repair work could get it to boot. Luckily I had all my data backed up, so I just decided to do a fresh Mavericks install via a USB stick. After that is when I discovered the FileVault issue.

Again, all good now with FileVault after re-installing Mavericks via the Mac App Store per Jored's instructions.

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Answer 4

Nov 14, 2013 6:36 PM in response to StrangeProportion

Correct. Doing a "clean install" by creating a bootable USB thumb drive is not supported. It will lead to issues.

If you want to do a clean install you should install Mavericks as a "non-clean" install.

Then boot to the recovery partition, erase the main hard drive partition, and install again. It takes about the same amount of time as you don't have to create the USB stick.

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