Q: No recovery partition, how can I fix this?

The first thing to do with a second-hand computer is to erase the internal drive and install a clean copy of OS X. You — not the previous owner — must do that. How you do it depends on the model, and on whether you already own another Mac. If you're not sure of the model, enter the serial number on this page. Then find the model on this page to see what OS version was originally installed.

1. You don't own another Mac.

If the machine shipped with OS X 10.4 or 10.5, you need a boxed and shrink-wrapped retail Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6) installation disc from the Apple Store or a reputable reseller — not from eBay or anything of the kind. If the machine has less than 1 GB of memory, you'll need to add more in order to install 10.6. Preferably, install as much memory as it can take, according to the technical specifications.

If the machine shipped with OS X 10.6, you need the installation media that came with it: gray installation discs, or a USB flash drive for some MacBook Air models. For early MBA models, you may need a USB optical drive or Remote Disc. You should have received the media from the previous owner, but if you didn't, order replacements from Apple. A retail disc, or the gray discs from another model, will not work.

To boot from an optical disc or a flash drive, insert it, then reboot and hold down the C key at the startup chime. Release the key when you see the gray Apple logo on the screen.

If the machine shipped with OS X 10.7 or later, you don't need media. It should boot into Internet Recovery mode when you hold down the key combination option-command-R at the startup chime. Release the keys when you see a spinning globe.

2. You do own another Mac.

If you already own another Mac that was upgraded in the App Store to the version of OS X that you want to install, and if the new Mac is compatible with it, then you can install it. Use Recovery Disk Assistant to create a bootable USB device and boot the new Mac from it by holding down the C key at the startup chime. Alternatively, if you have a Time Machine backup of OS X 10.7.3 or later on an external hard drive (not a Time Capsule or other network device), you can boot from that by holding down the option key and selecting it from the row of icons that appears. Note that if your other Mac was never upgraded in the App Store, you can't use this method.

Once booted in Recovery, launch Disk Utility and select the icon of the internal drive — not any of the volume icons nested beneath it. In the Partition tab, select the default options: a GUID partition table with one data volume in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. This operation will permanently remove all existing data on the drive.

After partitioning, quit Disk Utility and run the OS X Installer. You will need the Apple ID and password that you used to upgrade. When the installation is done, the system will automatically reboot into the Setup Assistant, which will prompt you to transfer the data from another Mac, its backups, or from a Windows computer. If you have any data to transfer, this is usually the best time to do it.

Then run Software Update and install all available system updates from Apple. To upgrade to a major version of OS X newer than 10.6, get it from the Mac App Store. Note that you can't keep an upgraded version that was installed by the previous owner. He or she can't legally transfer it to you, and without the Apple ID you won't be able to update it in Software Update or reinstall, if that becomes necessary. The same goes for any App Store products that the previous owner installed — you have to repurchase them.

3. Other issues

If you see a lock screen when trying to boot from installation media or in Recovery mode, then a firmware password was set by the previous owner, or the machine was remotely locked via iCloud. You'll either have to contact the owner or take the machine to an Apple Store or another authorized service provider to be unlocked. You may be asked for proof of ownership.

If the previous owner "accepted" the bundled iLife applications (iPhoto, iMovie, and Garage Band) in the App Store so that he or she could update them, then they're linked to that Apple ID and you won't be able to download them without buying them. Reportedly, Mac App Store Customer Service has sometimes issued redemption codes for these apps to second owners who asked.

If the previous owner didn't deauthorize the computer in the iTunes Store under his Apple ID, you wont be able to  authorize it immediately under your ID. In that case, you'll either have to wait up to 90 days or contact iTunes Support.

When trying to create a new iCloud account, you might get a failure message: "Account limit reached." Apple imposes a limit of three iCloud account setups per device. Erasing the device does not reset the limit. You can still use an account that was created on another device, but you won't be able to create a new one. Contact iCloud Support for more information.

I have the macbook pro 2010 15", when I upgrade to mavericks, I guess I did install the recovery partition but I never using it and don't know it is exist.

When I use superduper 2.7.2 to clone the drive and put it into another new drive. Now the recovery partition is not there anymore.

3 questions:

1. what is the most important part of the recovery partition? can I recreate just this part without doing the whole install again.

2. if I always use superduper to clone, in case anything happen. would it be as good as recovery partition. Would I miss something I don't know.

3. Now that I am running 10.9.2, in case I want to download mavericks again would it be possbile?

thanks.

SuperDuper! doesn't clone the Recovery partition to the target drive, so no, you won't find one there, though it will still be on the drive you were cloning from.

1. It's a fairly simple way to reinstall the OS if you have no other means. It still does take almost as long as downloading the OS from Apple's servers through the App Store since most of the reinstall from the Recovery partition is also done that way.

You'd be much better off purchasing an 8GB flash drive and making your own Mavericks installer. Download Mavericks from the App Store (if you didn't save a copy of it). When it's done downloading, it will want to install. Press Command+Q to stop the installation. Then use DiskMaker X to create a bootable flash drive. Everything needed to install Mavericks will be on the flash drive, so it will install significantly faster since you don't have to wait for any part of the OS to download. You can then delete the Mavericks installer from the Applications folder.

2. Basically, yes. You can just boot to the backup and clone it back. Then all of your apps are already installed. All of your settings in place, etc. The only data you'd lose is anything (emails, documents) that hadn't been backup up yet since the last clone.

3. Yes, login to your App Store account and click on Purchases. Mavericks should have a Download button next to it.

one thing want to confirm before I do the reinstall mavericks, the internal hard drive I have inside the macbook already has other programs install (I keep 250g partition for osx and 500g partitiion for data), if I reinstall would this step erase all the programs already there or it is just re-write the osx part?

I do has parallel 9 install and some special licence program on the window virtual pc side. is that ok for the upgrade.

is that carbon copy can do a better job then superduper?

Thanks again for your support.

Reinstalling Mavericks will only rewrite the OS files. That does not in any way mean you should not have a complete, restorable backup first in case something goes wrong.

Parallels 9 is the current version and should work without issue under Mavericks.

CCC and SuperDuper! do pretty much the same thing. I believe CCC will also clone the Recovery drive to the destination drive if you want it to. SD! does not. But otherwise, CCC and the paid version of SD! will both do incremental backups. Meaning, once the initial full clone is created, you can have either replace/remove/copy only those files necessary to make the clone match the source. Much, much faster to keep the clone up to date than always having to clone the entire drive every time.

I end up using the link below to create the recovery partition, it is smart that it will ask which partition on your drive that you want to add this 1G partition onto it, and it is samll about 300m only.

http://musings.silvertooth.us/2013/10/recovery-partition-creator-3-7-updated-for -mavericks/

and after it done, I use

command+R to reboot to recovery, use diskutil list in terminal to check recovery partition is there.

this way I don't have to install all the things again.

And after all this done, I use carbon copy cloner to clone the disk for backup. it has an extra step to create the recovery partition first then do the copy afterward.

One quick question, if I have used carbon copy cloner to create the recovery partition already, I guess this partition do not change. Can I use Superduper for backup after that. I found the carbon copy cloner is a bit confuse on the option but Superduper is more easy. and a bit faster using smart update.

Any suggestion on this.

Thanks.

I found that yes, you can do a "smart update" of the recovery hd with SuperDuper!, but ONLY a smart update.

The erase and backup option changes the partition type and the cloned recovery hd won't work any more.

Can I use Superduper for backup after that. I found the carbon copy cloner is a bit confuse on the option but Superduper is more easy.

Yes. SD doesn't care about any recovery partition. It only pays attention to the source and target drives you choose. Any recovery partition will still exist on any drive you put them on.

@ Redarm

If you have the full version of SD!, you can change the cloning options from Smart Update to Erase then copy at any time. Though why anyone would want to erase the target drive every time is beyond me. That's the entire benefit of Smart Update.

As for the cloned HD not working anymore? The clone will always be bootable, just like any other drive or partition with a valid OS on it. Though what would stop it from being bootable is if the physical drive you cloned to does not have its partition map set as GUID. If it's Master Boot Record, or Apple Partition Map, then no, it will not be bootable.

I misunderstood the poster's question.

What I was talking about is updating the recovery hd with SuperDuper!, *not* the "normal" volumes' clone.

Was that not visible from what I wrote?

@avengine:

I guess this partition do not change

Oh, but it does every so often.

Was that not visible from what I wrote?

Ah! Yes, it is. The only purpose I could see for that option is if you (example) upgraded your main drive from 10.8 to 10.9. Then you'd be able to use CCC to update the recovery drive on your backup drive to a 10.9 recovery partition without having to install the OS on that drive too to get it there.

Exactly, only I do it with point updates too sometimes, since the Safari version gets left behind every so often.

And since I don’t have CarbonCopyCloner, I use SuperDuper!, which can upgrade the Recovery HD, as long as it’s a Smart Update that doesn’t touch/change the Apple_Boot partition format.

I use SuperDuper!, which can upgrade the Recovery HD

I've been using the full version of SD! for quite some time. There's no option for cloning the hidden recovery partition. Not even in the latest version. May I ask how you're accomplishing that?

Sorry for not being clear: I do mean update, *not* clone.

An (old) Recovery HD had to be there already (created either by running the full installer on the clone, or using one of the recovery hd creation tools).  After that it can be easily updated with SuperDuper! and "smart update" (but not erased and backed up).

Likewise for myself not being clear. Updating the recovery partition is not an option, either. It doesn't appear in the source list, and their are no preferences you can check to make it appear.

So that puts us back to "how are you accomplishing that?" Not trying to argue, I just don't see any way to do it. At least not without going the long way around by using Disk Utility in debug mode so you can show all drives, hidden or not, and then mounting the recovery partitions.

Just noticed Apple changed Disk Utility in Mavericks. Putting DU into debug mode allows you to show all drives. But it now only shows you the small EFI partitions it creates at the top of each physical drive. It no longer shows the recovery partitions.