How to Restore OS X Lion Via the Internet
Sure, Apple OS X Lion is a frisky little feline now, but what happens in a year or two when your permissions are as tangled as a ball of string and your computer's lost the spring in its step? Or worse, what happens when, one day, your computer simply won't boot? These things happen, and they tend to strike at the most inopportune times.
With previous versions of Mac OS X, you could boot off the install disk and run Disk Utility to repair or reinstall the operating system. But now that Apple is treating OS X as an app, what's a Mac user to do when his or her computer needs a little TLC? Turns out that Apple has already untangled this cat's cradle.
Lion's Recovery HD mode includes four key functions: "Restore from Time Machine," "Reinstall OS X," "Get Help Online," and "Disk Utility." It doesn't matter what Mac you're running—if you have Lion, Apple has a way for you to reinstall Lion via the Internet or clean up or clean out your Mac with the help of Disk Utility. For new MacBook Air and Mac Mini purchasers there's an added bonus: In case of emergency, Lion Internet Recovery will automatically dial up Apple's servers and restore Recovery HD so you can get back on your feet.
This article will spare you some technical reading—with a simple, hands-on account of using the new tech. Here is a new MacBook Air through the paces to learn firsthand if Apple's new Recovery HD takes the teeth out of system restoration. (Hint: It does). I also use Lion Internet Recovery, included with the latest MacBook Air and Mac Mini, to resurrect a murdered Mac. It wasn't easy to test—it turns out that killing Mac OS X is no easy feat—but it was worth the trouble.
It's like booting from the disk, without the disk.
The test was with an 11-inch MacBook Air for three reasons: First, it's brand-new and features Apple's latest tech, namely Lion Internet Recovery; second, it has limitations—no disk drive, no Ethernet—that could help me identify issues with Apple's minimalistic approach; and third, just wanted an excuse to play with it.
The test was with an 11-inch MacBook Air for three reasons: First, it's brand-new and features Apple's latest tech, namely Lion Internet Recovery; second, it has limitations—no disk drive, no Ethernet—that could help me identify issues with Apple's minimalistic approach; and third, just wanted an excuse to play with it.
Getting to Apple's Recovery HD mode is dead simple: Simply reboot your Mac and hold down the Command (Apple) and the "R" (think "reboot") keys until the gray Apple appears on screen. It's easy to identify when you're in Recovery mode because you'll see a Mac OS X menu bar and a "Mac OS X Utilities" application with those four key options: "Restore from Time Machine," "Reinstall OS X," "Get Help Online," and "Disk Utility."
For the purposes of this article, I concentrated on "Reinstall OS X" and "Disk Utility" because "Restore from Time Machine," while useful, is not a new feature, and "Get Help Online" simply opens a recovery-mode Safari browser and points you to help resources at Apple.
Finding Lion in the clouds.
If Apple made it quick and easy to get OS X Lion, they've made it just as effortless to retrieve it when you're in a pinch. After selecting a reinstallation, Apple asked to check out computer's credentials: "To download and restore Mac OS X your computer's eligibility will need to be verified by Apple."
If Apple made it quick and easy to get OS X Lion, they've made it just as effortless to retrieve it when you're in a pinch. After selecting a reinstallation, Apple asked to check out computer's credentials: "To download and restore Mac OS X your computer's eligibility will need to be verified by Apple."
Because Mostly MacBook Air had two partitions, one for OS X and one for Bootcamp (Windows), I had to select a disk onto which to install OS X. After clicking the Mac partition, I received a message that read, "Downloading additional components. Your computer will restart automatically."
Apple gave me an initial ETA of 35 minutes for the download and 37 for the installation. In real-time, however, the entire process took just 36 minutes. That includes booting into Recovery HD, downloading "additional components," reinstalling OS X, and rebooting to the login screen—fairly impressive performance, especially considering I had no choice but to use Wi-Fi.
Cleaning house and cleaning out the house.
36 minutes seemed a little too good to be true. How much had Apple honestly reinstalled? I was working from a brand new MacBook Air, so certainly that must have accelerated the process. Booting back into Recovery HD, I opened Disk Utility. I repaired the disk (near-instantaneous) and permissions (4 minutes). So far so good: Everything worked as it would from a disk, only faster.
36 minutes seemed a little too good to be true. How much had Apple honestly reinstalled? I was working from a brand new MacBook Air, so certainly that must have accelerated the process. Booting back into Recovery HD, I opened Disk Utility. I repaired the disk (near-instantaneous) and permissions (4 minutes). So far so good: Everything worked as it would from a disk, only faster.
From here, I decided to reformat the Mac partition and do a fresh reinstall OS X. With no common components the process would have to be slower. Think again. Despite similar ETAs (33 minutes to the download and 38 to install) the end result was just a couple minutes longer than the previous reinstallation (39 minutes real-time). In other words, in the time it takes to watch an episode of Mad Men, I had performed a full installation of OS X over the Internet. Not bad, right?
Lion Internet Recovery, or how I learned to stop caring and love breaking OS X.
With Recovery HD any Lion user can run Disk Utility to clean house—or clean out house—or reinstall OS X from Apple's servers. But Apple has also added a new tool called Lion Internet Recovery for the latest drive-less MacBook Air and Mac Mini.
With Recovery HD any Lion user can run Disk Utility to clean house—or clean out house—or reinstall OS X from Apple's servers. But Apple has also added a new tool called Lion Internet Recovery for the latest drive-less MacBook Air and Mac Mini.
Let's say your Mac is totally toasted. You can't even boot into Recovery HD using the keyboard command. With Lion Internet Recovery, a new Macbook Air (or Mac Mini) can automatically connect to and boot from Apple's servers using your preferred wireless network, run a test on your hardware (memory and hard drive), and download Recovery HD so your Lion can land on its feet. Sounds great, right? The problem comes in testing it. It turns out that breaking OS X beyond repair isn't easy.
I began by booting my 11-inch MacBook Air into Target Disk Mode (Command + T) and connecting to its big brother, the 13-inch MacBook Air with a ThunderBolt cable. For simplicity's sake, hereafter I'll call my 11-inch "Li'l Mac" and the 13-inch "Big Mac."
I began by deleting the entire Library folder at the root level of Li'l Mac. How's a Mac to boot without a Library folder? It found a way. Once Li'l Mac had rebooted it began to rebuild its Library from the System Library folder. Li'l Mac: 1. Big Mac: 0.
Back on Big Mac, with Li'l Mac connected via Target Disk Mode, I deleted Li'l Mac's recreated Library folder and raised my bet: I deleted the entire System folder (90,000 odd items). I rebooted Li'l Mac. It waited 10 seconds with a gray screen and, with (seemingly) no other options available, it did the unthinkable: Li'l Mac booted to Windows from its Bootcamp partition. Li'l Mac: 2. Big Mac: 0.
Reconnected via Target Disk Mode, I used Disk Utility to format the Bootcamp partition. With Windows wiped, where was Li'l Mac to go? Rebooted, it sat on the gray screen for 20 seconds and finally opened Recovery HD. Was this Lion Internet Recovery? It wasn't, I determined, after consulting Apple's documentation. OS X still wasn't (completely) dead. Li'l Mac: 3. Big Mac: 0.
It was time for the nuclear option. On Big Mac, with Li'l Mac mounted as a disk via Target Disk Mode, I opened Disk Utility and formatted the entire drive, clearing both partitions to one clean slate. Li'l Mac had, effectively, a blank SSD. I rebooted Li'l Mac to see a blinking folder. Success. To initiate Lion Internet Recovery, I rebooted once more and held down Command + R. With literally nothing on the drive, Li'l Mac would have to beam up to Apple's servers via Wi-Fi.
And it worked. A new gray screen a spinning Earth and status appeared. Recovering Recovery HD from Apple's servers wasn't a quick process—it took nearly 45 minutes. But once it had completed, my blank Li'l Mac rebooted to Recovery HD, from which I could reinstall Lion.
No disk? No problem.
Whether you have a new Mac with Lion Internet Recovery or you've simply installed Lion on an existing machine, Apple makes it easy to forget the disk. Reinstalling OS X from Apple's servers is quick and easy. Running maintenance through Recovery HD's Disk Utility works just as well—perhaps better—as it had from a disk. And with Internet Recovery for the MacBook Air and Mac Mini, Apple has proven that no matter how hard you try, Lion will find a way to claw its way back onto your computer. RIP DVDs. With Internet-delivered OS X, Apple makes the disk drive look like the floppy drive.
Whether you have a new Mac with Lion Internet Recovery or you've simply installed Lion on an existing machine, Apple makes it easy to forget the disk. Reinstalling OS X from Apple's servers is quick and easy. Running maintenance through Recovery HD's Disk Utility works just as well—perhaps better—as it had from a disk. And with Internet Recovery for the MacBook Air and Mac Mini, Apple has proven that no matter how hard you try, Lion will find a way to claw its way back onto your computer. RIP DVDs. With Internet-delivered OS X, Apple makes the disk drive look like the floppy drive.
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