Macbook Pro Recovery options

Joined
Jul 8, 2011
Messages
14
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Your Mac's Specs
Early 2011 Macbook Pro with Intel i7 2.2 ghz 4 mb ram
Hello everyone,

I have had my Mac Book pro for a year and a half now. I am very happy that I have switched from the PC.

That said, I am currently in the process of recovering my wife's PC from a crash. It has been a pain and it got me thinking. I do not know how I would do the same if my Mac crashed.

Does anyone know where I can find a step by step guide on mac recovery. I would like to make sure I have all the information I need and any recovery materials on hand in ready to go in the unlikely event of a crash.

Thanks
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
First we need to know which MacBook Pro you have and what version of OS X it's running. Recovery options will vary depending on the version of OS X. Recent versions of OS X (Lion and Mountain Lion) are no longer being supplied on DVD but are directly downloadable from the Apple servers.
 
OP
skol74
Joined
Jul 8, 2011
Messages
14
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Your Mac's Specs
Early 2011 Macbook Pro with Intel i7 2.2 ghz 4 mb ram
I have a 2011 mac book pro and am running OSX 10.8.2
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
OK, thanks for posting back and welcome to our forums!

There's nothing that makes recovery any easier than having a good recent backup. The first thing we advise is to use Time Machine that's included with your copy of Mountain Lion. Purchase a good quality external hard drive and use it to make backups frequently. There are other methods of backup available which are also recommended: Carbon Copy Cloner

Your internal hard drive copy of Mountain Lion includes a Recovery Partition which can be accessed by pressing Command + R upon startup. If you should ever have to go into recovery to verify the hard drive or reinstall Mountain Lion you can enter recovery and use the tools there to verify and repair the hard drive or to reinstall Mountain Lion.

I suggest trying out the recovery feature for yourself as a test run: Reboot your machine and press the command and R keys at the same time. The machine will boot to recovery. From there you can see the various tools and options which are available. After you're through looking around, just reboot back to normal mode.

But again, make backups. It's not if the hard drive will go out, it's when.... ;)
 
OP
skol74
Joined
Jul 8, 2011
Messages
14
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Your Mac's Specs
Early 2011 Macbook Pro with Intel i7 2.2 ghz 4 mb ram
Thanks for the help. I am making backups routinely using time machine and an external drive already.

If the hard disc gets corrupted wont that affect the recovery partition as well or is it a separate drive? I am worried about a hard disc mechanical failure as well.
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
You're correct about recovery not being available if the hard drive fails. That's why using cloning software (carbon copy cloner) in addition to Time Machine is an excellent backup strategy. Of course you'll need a separate external hard drive in addition to the one used for Time Machine. Small price to pay though for recovering your valuable data.
 
C

chas_m

Guest
The clone, while not a bad idea, is strictly optional these days. There's much less need for it then there once was, thanks to Internet Recovery (which is part of Lion and Mountain Lion).

You definitely need a backup, and you've got one in Time Machine's backups to your external drive. Should the hard drive in your main machine fail, you would replace it and then recover from Time Machine. You can also recover your OS through Internet Recovery and then recover your personal data (User Folder, etc) from Time Machine if a full recovery from Time Machine isn't possible, so you're pretty well-covered already.

Having a second, cloned backup adds the convenience of being able to boot back up immediately after an internal HD failure and continue working (or troubleshooting/saving data etc) but that's really about it's only purpose.
 
OP
skol74
Joined
Jul 8, 2011
Messages
14
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Your Mac's Specs
Early 2011 Macbook Pro with Intel i7 2.2 ghz 4 mb ram
Thank You both!
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top