how to erase imac with 3tb fusion

jetjaguar said:

I am returning my imac and when I hold option on boot .. there is no recovery partition .. how do i go about formatting it ??

Click to expand...

You may have to DL ML from the app store and create a bootable USB.

If you're returning it to the Apple Store you can ask them to do it for you while you watch. They should have all of the equipment ready to go, just make an appt.

Have you tried holding "Command R" while booting? It will take awhile.

What happened to your recovery partition?

If this is a new 2012 iMac, I don't think the App Store Mountain Lion download will work on it, the new iMacs come with a slightly newer version of 10.8.2 which hasn't been released to the public yet.


If it is still in running condition, you could encrypt your disk with FireVault and then let Apple sort it all out when they get it back.

Command Option R - for internet recovery for Fusion drives

Fusion drives do not have an internal recovery partition due to the nature of the two drives combined, it uses the Internet recovery method.

AppleNewton said:

Command Option R - for internet recovery for Fusion drives

Fusion drives do not have an internal recovery partition due to the nature of the two drives combined, it uses the Internet recovery method.

Click to expand...

It is "Command R" , no "Option" key required:

http://www.apple.com/osx/recovery/

Just hold down Command-R during startup and OS X Recovery springs into action.

There is a link on this page to create a Recovery USB ThumbDrive, but I think that Fusion drives may have the Recovery partition on the Hard Disk drive. You should be able to see it from Terminal by "diskutil list" command (sorry, I can't confirm this as I don't have a Apple supplied Fusion drive).

When I create my DIY Fusion drives, I usually put a recovery partition on the SSD in the (hopeful) belief that the hard disk is the most probable failure point of the two drives.


-howard