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Re: cloning and recovery drives

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On 2/20/14, 6:57 AM, David Empson wrote:
> Andreas Rutishauser <andreas@macandreas.ch> wrote:
>
>> Salut John
>>
>> In article <le2skq$hkn$1@dont-email.me>,
>>   "M. John Matlaw" <nouser@invalid.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On 2/19/14, 12:53 AM, Andreas Rutishauser wrote:
>>>> In article <le084a$2p1$1@dont-email.me>,
>>>>    "M. John Matlaw" <nouser@invalid.com> wrote:
>>
>>>> Or Apple's Recovery Disk Assistant
>>>> <http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4848?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US>
>>
>>> I just wonder if there's anything unique about the Recovery partition
>>> between different machines.  Is there anything different in the Macbook
>>> Air 11", 13" or a 17" Macbook Pro.  If they're all the same couldn't one
>>> just clone the Recovery partition from any system (or from
>>> http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433 ).  Though
>>> http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433 may be suggesting that there is some
>>> sort of link between a specific system and it's Recovery partition.
>>
>> I think the contents of the Recovery Partitions are not specific per
>> model (they are different per OS (Lion/Mountain Lion/Mavericks))
>
> There are compatibility issues in the case of newly released models.
>
> The same rules apply to recovery partitions as normal OS X
> installations. The kernel in OS X or a recovery partition supports a
> specific set of Mac models, and if a Mac model is too new to be
> supported by that kernel, then the recovery partition won't work on that
> model.
>
> For example, the Late 2013 MacBook Pro models came with a custom build
> of 10.9 (13A3017 for the 15-inch model, which I have). The recovery
> partition has the same kernel build on it.
>
> It also has a System/Library/CoreServices/PlatformSupport.plist file
> which lists all the supported model identifiers, which from a quick
> glance appears to be all models supported by Mavericks, including
> "MacBookPro11,1", "MacBookPro11,2" and "MacBookPro11,3", which covers
> both variants of the MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013) and the
> MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013).
>
> An installation of Mavericks on an older model will have a recovery
> partition from the general release of Mavericks, probably 13A603 if the
> recovery partition was created by installing 10.9 (13B42 if 10.9.1 was
> the initial install).
>
> The 13A603 and 13B42 kernels (and therefore a recovery partition
> containing either kernel) doesn't support a Late 2013 MacBook Pro.
>
>
> This will also affect older OS X versions, as the recovery partition is
> created when that major version of OS X is installed, and then usually
> doesn't get updated for subsequent minor system updates (unless you do
> another full install with a newer minor version).
>
> For example, a generic install of 10.8 will have a recovery partition
> containing the same kernel, which is too old to support Mac models
> introduced after July 2012.
>
> On the other hand, a generic install from the 10.8.5 installer would be
> new enough to support all new Macs introduced prior to September 2013.
>
>
> If you want to try copying recovery partitions around, pick the one
> which was installed from the newest minor version of the OS, or the one
> from a newly released model. Don't mix recovery partitions with
> different versions of OS X.
>
>>>   From http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433
>>> Note: In order to create an external OS X  Recovery using the OS X
>>> Recovery Assistant, the Mac must have an existing Recovery HD.
>>>
>>> Why?  If the Recovery Drive is just some sort of bare bones boot device
>>> what's the difference? Or perhaps that's just a requirement for using
>>> Apple's Recovery Assistant.  Or maybe the version of the OS makes a
>>> difference.
>>
>> Interpreting the note you are citing, I think the Recovery Disk
>> Assisitant needs the contents of the Recovery HD to produce a Recovery
>> HD on the external volume.
>
> Yep. It isn't possible to create a recovery partition from the main OS X
> installation, because the recovery partition contains files which don't
> exist on a standard install of OS X, including several utilities.
>
>> Note from the article I linked;
>> If the system was upgraded to OS X Lion, Mountain Lion or Mavericks
>> purchased from the App Store, the external recovery drive can be used
>> with other similarly-upgraded systems.
>>
>> So I think you can use that Recovery HD with different Macs.
>
> Different Macs which were all upgraded to that major OS X version, yes,
> because they are all using the general release of OS X.
>
> It isn't explicitly stated, but it can be inferred that the recovery
> drive might not work with newer models which came preinstalled with the
> same OS X version (because the kernel is too old to support a later
> model).
>
My newest mac is a Mid 2012 Air so it sounds like I could create a 
recovery drive that would work on everything I've got (assuming all are 
running the same OS X version).  I just wonder, at one point you mention 
"copying recovery partitions around".  I'd assumed I'd either have to 
clone or use Recovery Disk Assistant.  Will a simple copy of the 
Recovery partition work?

At this point I'm thinking a small USB3 stick might be the way to go. 
Outside of 10.6 systems all I'm using is 10.9 so the one external 
Recovery drive should work on all my computers, if I'm reading you right.

Thanks for your help.

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Thread

cloning and recovery drives "M. John Matlaw" <nouser@invalid.com> - 2014-02-18 13:17 -0500
  Re: cloning and recovery drives nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2014-02-18 13:28 -0500
    Re: cloning and recovery drives "M. John Matlaw" <nouser@invalid.com> - 2014-02-18 18:19 -0500
  Re: cloning and recovery drives Alan Ralph <alan.ralph@gmail.com> - 2014-02-18 20:14 +0000
  Re: cloning and recovery drives Andreas Rutishauser <andreas@macandreas.ch> - 2014-02-19 06:53 +0100
    Re: cloning and recovery drives "M. John Matlaw" <nouser@invalid.com> - 2014-02-19 13:20 -0500
      Re: cloning and recovery drives Andreas Rutishauser <andreas@macandreas.ch> - 2014-02-20 06:57 +0100
        Re: cloning and recovery drives dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) - 2014-02-21 00:57 +1300
          Re: cloning and recovery drives "M. John Matlaw" <nouser@invalid.com> - 2014-02-20 12:15 -0500
            Re: cloning and recovery drives Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-02-20 17:49 +0000
            Re: cloning and recovery drives dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) - 2014-02-21 14:43 +1300
              Re: cloning and recovery drives dcohenspam@talktalk.net (Daniel Cohen) - 2014-02-21 19:48 +0000
                Re: cloning and recovery drives dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) - 2014-02-22 12:57 +1300
                Re: cloning and recovery drives dcohenspam@talktalk.net (Daniel Cohen) - 2014-02-22 09:36 +0000
        Re: cloning and recovery drives William Hanna <whanna@invalid.invalid> - 2014-02-21 08:51 -0800
          Re: cloning and recovery drives Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-02-21 22:41 +0000
          Re: cloning and recovery drives John Albert <j.albert@snet.net> - 2014-02-23 00:19 -0500
            Re: cloning and recovery drives William Hanna <whanna@invalid.invalid> - 2014-02-23 06:32 -0800
            Re: cloning and recovery drives Alan Browne <alan.browne@FreelunchVideotron.ca> - 2014-02-23 14:16 -0500

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