How to recreate recovery partition

[minifridge1138]

Once upon a time, I migrated from a HDD to an SSD. When I did it, I cloned my system drive with carbon copy cloner. But I didn’t clone the recovery partition, so there isn’t on on my SSD.

Does anyone have any ideas for how to recreate one on the SSD?

 

[davidlv]

Once upon a time, I migrated from a HDD to an SSD. When I did it, I cloned my system drive with carbon copy cloner. But I didn’t clone the recovery partition, so there isn’t on on my SSD.

Does anyone have any ideas for how to recreate one on the SSD?

Installing from a full installer will update the recovery partition.
If that is too much for you, this method works, even though it is old. Originally for El Capitan or older, it works up through Mojave.
See the text below.

Updating your recovery partition. Updating through the mac app store or with the delta or combo update will NOT update the recovery partition.

To make the 10.11.5 recovery partition or later (tested using Mojave, and it worked OK):

1. Download the Lion Recovery Update from https://support.apple.com/kb/dl1464?locale=en_US . Make sure it is in your downloads folder.
2. Download the full installer for El Capitan 10.11.5–macOS Sierra 10.12.1 etc., from the mac app store, right click on it and click Show Package Contents. Go to Contents/SharedSupport/. Copy the InstallESD.dmg file into your Downloads folder.

3. Download and decompress the file recovery.sh.zip from http://4unitmaths.com/recovery.sh.zip and move recovery.sh into your Downloads folder if it's not there already.

4. Open Terminal and type the following commands:

chmod +x ~/Downloads/recovery.sh

sudo ~/Downloads/recovery.sh

Wait a few minutes for it to finish and return back to a prompt. Reboot with holding down the option key to test your new recovery partition.

(If you have core storage you will have to revert it to make the recovery partition show up in the startup manager. Just run these in terminal to revert it if you want to:

diskutil cs list

and then

diskutil coreStorage revert lvUUID

where lvUUID is the last lvUUID reported by the previous Terminal command. Then restart.)
Such as
diskutil coreStorage revert Disk1

 

[Fishrrman]

From my archives:
(I'm just posting everything I have, including a couple of Applescripts):

How to Create Recovery Partition in Mac

While I was doing maintenance for my Mac, using the Maintenance app, the app told me that my disk partition needed to be repaired. So, as usual, I reboot

www.hongkiat.com

How to Recreate Recovery Partition in Mac OS X

The Recovery partition in Mac OS X is an important component of a system install in that it allows you to troubleshoot a computer, repair drives, restore from backups, and even reinstall Mac OS if …

osxdaily.com

Re-Create OS X's Recovery Partition If You've Removed It

If you've deleted the recovery partition on your Mac, you might find yourself unable to use certain features, like FileVault and Find My Mac. Recovery

lifehacker.com

 

[brianmowrey]

Isn't a new Recovery partition created when you Option-⌘-R into Internet Recovery? I assumed that then functioned as the current Recovery partition (where ⌘-R will boot to, going forward) until you reinstall or upgrade OS?

 

[minifridge1138]

This is an older Mac that doesn’t support internet recovery.

 

[brianmowrey]

This is an older Mac that doesn’t support internet recovery.

Ah!

Well now I’ll be left curious whether Internet Recovery for sure replaces/creates the Recovery Partition until the next time I erase both my drives.

 

[Fishrrman]

"Well now I’ll be left curious whether Internet Recovery for sure replaces/creates the Recovery Partition until the next time I erase both my drives."

Internet recovery is a feature that only became available on Macs from 2011 onward.
EXCEPTION: SOME (not all) Macs from 2010 can use internet recovery. I believe 2010 MacBook Pros can use it, but only after a firmware update.

If it's a 2009 or earlier Mac, it's just not gonna do internet recovery. Impossible.

 

[FarmerBob]

Don't trust Carbon Copy Cloner when copying Boot Volumes. Try running Onyx on the volume. That's how I fixed my corrupt copies.

 

[minifridge1138]

Don't trust Carbon Copy Cloner when copying Boot Volumes. Try running Onyx on the volume. That's how I fixed my corrupt copies.

Carbon Copy Cloner did a fantastic job. Nothing was corrupt.

it was 100% intentional at the time. I only cloned the boot partition to the new SSD because at the time I had multiple copies of OS X installed on different drives. So I didn’t need or want to waste SSD space.

 

[yosef019]

Installing from a full installer will update the recovery partition.
If that is too much for you, this method works, even though it is old. Originally for El Capitan or older, it works up through Mojave.
See the text below.

Updating your recovery partition. Updating through the mac app store or with the delta or combo update will NOT update the recovery partition.

To make the 10.11.5 recovery partition or later (tested using Mojave, and it worked OK):

1. Download the Lion Recovery Update from https://support.apple.com/kb/dl1464?locale=en_US . Make sure it is in your downloads folder.
2. Download the full installer for El Capitan 10.11.5–macOS Sierra 10.12.1 etc., from the mac app store, right click on it and click Show Package Contents. Go to Contents/SharedSupport/. Copy the InstallESD.dmg file into your Downloads folder.

3. Download and decompress the file recovery.sh.zip from http://4unitmaths.com/recovery.sh.zip and move recovery.sh into your Downloads folder if it's not there already.

4. Open Terminal and type the following commands:

chmod +x ~/Downloads/recovery.sh

sudo ~/Downloads/recovery.sh

Wait a few minutes for it to finish and return back to a prompt. Reboot with holding down the option key to test your new recovery partition.

(If you have core storage you will have to revert it to make the recovery partition show up in the startup manager. Just run these in terminal to revert it if you want to:

diskutil cs list

and then

diskutil coreStorage revert lvUUID

where lvUUID is the last lvUUID reported by the previous Terminal command. Then restart.)
Such as
diskutil coreStorage revert Disk1

hello ho to do that on ventura 13.2 ? sory for revive the post

 

[anshuvorty]

"Well now I’ll be left curious whether Internet Recovery for sure replaces/creates the Recovery Partition until the next time I erase both my drives."

Internet recovery is a feature that only became available on Macs from 2011 onward.
EXCEPTION: SOME (not all) Macs from 2010 can use internet recovery. I believe 2010 MacBook Pros can use it, but only after a firmware update.

If it's a 2009 or earlier Mac, it's just not gonna do internet recovery. Impossible.

man, it's insane that Apple invented this technology waaaaay before it was introduced on Windows! During this time period, you still had to create a bootable DVD/flash drive, and then boot from it, to recover from an OS boot failure.

 

[01tepo]

bumping an old post, but is some sense it's cleanest one I have found for this matter.
few questions ahead of me actually doing (and breaking things) to better understand the process:

• firstly, you one is supposed download `Lion Recovery Update`, here i wonder why it is Lion's recovery update? Is there the same thing for High Sierra (that I want to be mine recovery version) ? I did not find it...
• int the script you attached, it "InstallESD.dmg" some equivalent if `InstallAssistant.pkg` ?
  
  my case is complicated: iMac12,2 that has OSx Lion by default (unsupported for long now) -> install Olarila High Sierra -> install Monterey with OpenCore and I am missing recovery. I say missing, but it seems the disk partition is in place, it just doesnt work (CMD+R leads me to the internet recovery). I need `csrutil` so I need some newer recovery and well...local recovery at all..

so can we adapt the process and revive it a bit?

Thanks±!

 

[Killerbob]

I know this is an old post, but I just found out that my 2018 Mac Mini, running macOS 15.0.1 (Sequoia), does not have a recovery partition. I don't need one for something critical, but supposedly, you can not enable Find My Mac without it.

Can someone take pity on me and guide me step-by-step through installing one? I see this thread has one listed, but it's for some very old versions of MacOS.

 

[anshuvorty]

I know this is an old post, but I just found out that my 2018 Mac Mini, running macOS 15.0.1 (Sequoia), does not have a recovery partition. I don't need one for something critical, but supposedly, you can not enable Find My Mac without it.

Can someone take pity on me and guide me step-by-step through installing one? I see this thread has one listed, but it's for some very old versions of MacOS.

Being lazy here and asked ChatGPT for instructions for you. Here is what it came out with, hope It helps!

To create a recovery partition on a 2018 Mac Mini running macOS 15.0.1 (Sonoma), you don’t typically need to manually create a recovery partition, as macOS includes one automatically. However, if the recovery partition is missing or damaged, you can recreate it using macOS Recovery or by reinstalling macOS. Here’s a step-by-step guide:



Method 1: Reinstall macOS to Create a Recovery Partition



This method will reinstall macOS without affecting your data and will recreate the recovery partition.



Steps:



1. Back Up Your Data:

• Before proceeding, it’s recommended to back up your data using Time Machine or another backup solution, just in case.

2. Restart in macOS Recovery:

• Restart your Mac and immediately press and hold Command (⌘) + R when your Mac starts up.

• Keep holding these keys until you see the Apple logo or a spinning globe, which indicates that your Mac is entering macOS Recovery.

3. Reinstall macOS:

• In the macOS Utilities window, select Reinstall macOS and follow the on-screen instructions.

• This will download the latest version of macOS compatible with your system and reinstall it. The recovery partition will be created automatically during this process.


4. Complete the Installation:
• Let the installation complete. Your system will reboot multiple times. Once finished, the recovery partition will be restored, and your macOS installation will remain intact.

5. Verify the Recovery Partition:
• After reinstalling, restart your Mac and again press Command (⌘) + R during startup to check if macOS Recovery is now available.


Method 2: Manually Create a Recovery Partition Using Third-Party Tools

If you prefer not to reinstall macOS or the built-in method doesn’t work, you can use third-party tools like Recovery Partition Creator. This tool helps create a recovery partition without needing to reinstall macOS.

Steps:



1. Download Recovery Partition Creator:

• You can download Recovery Partition Creator from third-party sources (make sure the source is reliable and trusted).

2. Run the Application:

• Follow the instructions provided by the tool to create a recovery partition. The tool will typically detect your macOS version and create a recovery partition if it’s missing.

3. Reboot and Test:

• After the partition is created, reboot your Mac, and press Command (⌘) + R during startup to ensure that the recovery partition is working.



Method 3: Use Internet Recovery (For a Missing Recovery Partition)


If your Mac doesn’t have a local recovery partition, you can use macOS Internet Recovery, which doesn’t require a local recovery partition.

Steps:

1. Restart Your Mac:

• Press Command (⌘) + Option (⌥) + R during startup to enter Internet Recovery mode.

2. Download macOS:

• Your Mac will connect to the internet and download the macOS recovery environment. From here, you can reinstall macOS or access disk utilities without needing a local recovery partition.


Conclusion:

For most users, reinstalling macOS using Command (⌘) + R will automatically restore the recovery partition. If this method doesn’t work, or you prefer a different approach, third-party tools or Internet Recovery can help. Be sure to back up your data before performing any major operations.

 

[Killerbob]

Thank you very much… I will try that this weekend… Hopefully options 3, 1, or finally 2, will do the trick.