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Sep 25, 2010
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I noticed that my recovery partition on my MacBook is completely gone now, although it still shows up on my iMac.

Why did it go away and how can I get it back?
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
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What happens when you boot the computer holding the cmd-r key?
 

tywebb13

macrumors 68040
Apr 21, 2012
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I noticed that my recovery partition on my MacBook is completely gone now, although it still shows up on my iMac.

Why did it go away and how can I get it back?

I bet the yosemite installation created a core storage logical volume which prevents the recovery partition from showing up in the startup manager.

If the yosemite installation creates a core storage logical volume you can revert it to get partitions back to normal by running these 2 commands in terminal.

diskutil cs list

and then

diskutil coreStorage revert lvUUID

where lvUUID is the last lvUUID reported by the previous Terminal command.

Then restart for everything to get back to normal after you have run these commands in Terminal.

You can also now startup with the option key to get to the startup manager and after reverting the logical volume the recovery partition should show up there now.
 

Weaselboy

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Jan 23, 2005
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I noticed that my recovery partition on my MacBook is completely gone now, although it still shows up on my iMac.

Why did it go away and how can I get it back?

It boots into the recovery partition, but why isn't it showing up while booting with the option key then?

This is totally normal under Yosemite. The recovery partition does not show up when you option key boot, but it will work if you command-r boot to it.

For whatever reason this behavior has changed from previous OS X versions.
 

tywebb13

macrumors 68040
Apr 21, 2012
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For whatever reason this behavior has changed from previous OS X versions.

The reason is simple. The core storage logical volume created by the yosemite installation prevents the recovery partition from showing up in the startup manager. Reverting it in the manner I described will get partitions back to normal (including the recovery partition) thereby making the recovery partition visible again in the startup manager.

The terminal doesn't show anything with lvUUID.

Don't type "lvUUID".

You need to run the first command and then copy and paste the last lvUUID that was reported by the first command into the second.

To make it easier for you post up the results you get from the first command

diskutil cs list

and I'll tell you exactly what to put for the second one.
 
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NoBoMac

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Jul 1, 2014
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where lvUUID is the last lvUUID reported by the previous Terminal command

Not great instructions, imo. For example for me right now, my encrypted TimeMachine disk is the last logical volume listed.

Not picking, just a little too general, especially for trying to step the less savvy or comfortable with command line and interpreting output(s).
 

Weaselboy

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Jan 23, 2005
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The terminal doesn't show anything with lvUUID.

Again, what you are seeing is normal. If you hold command-r you will see the recovery partition. There is no need to revert the core storage volume like described in this thread.
 

dannys1

macrumors 68040
Sep 19, 2007
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I bet the yosemite installation created a core storage logical volume which prevents the recovery partition from showing up in the startup manager.

If the yosemite installation creates a core storage logical volume you can revert it to get partitions back to normal by running these 2 commands in terminal.

diskutil cs list

and then

diskutil coreStorage revert lvUUID

where lvUUID is the last lvUUID reported by the previous Terminal command.

Then restart for everything to get back to normal after you have run these commands in Terminal.

You can also now startup with the option key to get to the startup manager and after reverting the logical volume the recovery partition should show up there now.

Correct - Yosemite creates a coreStorage volume now. Thats why the partition is hidden. CMD + R to boot into it instead of option.
 

Weaselboy

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Jan 23, 2005
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The reason is simple. The core storage logical volume created by the yosemite installation prevents the recovery partition from showing up in the startup manager. Reverting it in the manner I described will get partitions back to normal (including the recovery partition) thereby making the recovery partition visible again in the startup manager.

I understand that part, but it seems to be happening on installs without the core storage enabled also. In any event, there is no reason to revert the core storage unless one needs to manipulate partitions in Disk Util.

There is nothing wrong with the OP's install and he does not need to change anything.

Until Apple provides some clarity why they are enabling core strorage, I see not reason to mess around with the default settings.

----------

Not great instructions, imo. For example for me right now, my encrypted TimeMachine disk is the last logical volume listed.

Not picking, just a little too general, especially for trying to step the less savvy or comfortable with command line and interpreting output(s).

Good point.

If you disconnect any external drive and dismount any other internals, you can just run the command below to revert. No need to ID the UUID.

Code:
diskutil cs revert /

Still no real need to do it though IMO.
 

tywebb13

macrumors 68040
Apr 21, 2012
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Sven11 wants to see it in startup manager. So he'll have to revert it for that to happen.

It is true that during the developer preview stage there was a "recovery update 1.0" that corrupted the recovery partition making it not visible in the startup manager even without core storage. A workaround was possible for that too thereby making it visible there again, but we've moved beyond that now.
 

Weaselboy

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Jan 23, 2005
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Sven11 wants to see it in startup manager. So he'll have to revert it for that to happen.

It sounds like he was just concerned it was gone, and assuming he reports back it works with command-r, it is not gone... so there is nothing that needs to be done here and his system is functioning normally.
 

tywebb13

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Apr 21, 2012
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his system is functioning normally.

There is nothing normal about a recovery partition disappearing from the startup manager. Many people including developers don't like it and have no problem about reverting the logical volume in order to get things back to normal - and I mean really normal where everything is working as you expect it to.

command-r is no good if you dual boot either.

I have mavericks and yosemite dual booting and want to see all the partitions including all the recovery partitions in the startup manager.

I also want to be able to easily edit my partitions in disk utility - something which is made impossible by core storage.
 
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dannys1

macrumors 68040
Sep 19, 2007
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There is nothing normal about a recovery partition disappearing from the startup manager. Many people including developers don't like it and have no problem about reverting the logical volume in order to get things back to normal - and I mean really normal where everything is working as you expect it to.

command-r is no good if you dual boot either.

I have mavericks and yosemite dual booting and want to see all the partitions including all the recovery partitions in the startup manager.

I also want to be able to easily edit my partitions in disk utility - something which is made impossible by core storage.

What?

What has dual booting got to do with anything? Why do you want to see recovery partitions as well? You only need recover when something is broke. Its much neater to NOT see it on your boot menu. Everything IS working as you'd expect it to, CMD+R exists for a reason, pressing option on boot is NOT and never has been the correct way to access the hidden recovery partition - and you don't need to see it in disk utility as you can't resize or mess with the recovery partition anyway, its already the minimal size and it doesn't need to be any bigger. :rolleyes:
 

tywebb13

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Apr 21, 2012
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The point is that the startup manager lets you chose (or should) which recovery partition to boot up to. Command-r doesn't let you choose.

Core storage not only prevents you from editing the recovery partition but the main partition too.

This removal of functionality has led many developers to decide to undo apple's work in making the logical volume.

And I should say that apple have not warned the public in any way whatsoever about this aspect of the installation.

Developers found out the hard way with DP1 and didn't see it coming. Thankfully core storage is much older than yosemite and there were already many people out there who already knew how to undo it with the revert command.

The question of does it really matter can be asked on both sides of the argument.

And there are valid points on both sides.

On the one hand if (like me) you dual boot and want to be able to select which recovery partition you boot to, and/or be able to edit partitons with disk utility the answer is probably yes and you might be inclined to revert the logical volume.

On the other hand if you only have yosemite and know that command-r still works in this case and don't necessarily want to be able to edit partitions with disk utility, then maybe the answer is no and so in this case you might not need to revert it.
 
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Weaselboy

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Jan 23, 2005
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On the other hand if you only have yosemite and know that command-r still works in this case and don't necessarily want to be able to edit partitions with disk utility, then maybe the answer is no and so in this case you might not need to revert it.

I understand everything you are saying. The issue here is the OP came here out of concern his recovery partition was gone. The simple answer is that it is not and if he/she presses command-r it can be accessed just like before and there is nothing wrong with OP's system.
 
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