Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Brings Lion Internet Recovery to Current MacBook Pro Models

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,489
30,727



lion_internet_recovery.png



Apple this week released three firmware updates that include fixes to compatibility with the forthcoming Apple Thunderbolt Display, but the MacBook Pro firmware update released today brings another interesting addition to the company's current models: Lion Recovery over the Internet.
This update enables Lion Recovery from an Internet connection and includes fixes that resolve issues with Apple Thunderbolt Display compatibility and Thunderbolt Target Disk Mode performance on MacBook Pro (early 2011) models.
Click to expand...
Internet Recovery debuted as part of OS X Lion to allow users to install the operating system on blank hard drives. The system works using a minimal bootable install on the machine's firmware that then passes off the full Lion install to the usual recovery mechanism, which downloads the operating system over the Internet.

Internet Recovery was initially available only on the new MacBook Air and Mac mini models that launched alongside OS X Lion, but Apple has now extended the capabilities to the MacBook Pro models introduced back in February.

Article Link: Apple Brings Lion Internet Recovery to Current MacBook Pro Models
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/09/14/apple-brings-lion-internet-recovery-to-current-macbook-pro-models/
CanadianGuy

CanadianGuy

macrumors regular
Jul 3, 2007
117
422
Ontario, Canada
MacBook Pro Speed Bump

My gut says this goes towards the rumours yesterday of imminent MacBook Pro speed bumps.

Apple would need the new MBP's to have access to this feature, and since the systems are basically the same as the Early 2011 ones, it was easy to back port it.

100% guessing on my part though, I have no inside knowledge.
 
wordoflife

wordoflife

macrumors 604
Jul 6, 2009
7,564
37
I would be ecstatic if they brought this to the 2010 MacBook Pros (and all the other recent computers too).

All we need is an EFI update!:D
 
H

h00ligan

macrumors 68040
Apr 10, 2003
3,028
136
London
I must be missing something. The 'early 2011' macbook pro I just got has lion recovery built in.....

So I actually assume this update may have already been done or something.

They make it sound like no machine has ever had this but the air and mini...

The question is - does the lion recovery now bring back the flipping apple hardware test that disappears with a drive swap/partition/format... ?
 
O

oiuh151

macrumors 6502
May 18, 2011
359
0
CanadianGuy said:
My gut says this goes towards the rumours yesterday of imminent MacBook Pro speed bumps.

Apple would need the new MBP's to have access to this feature, and since the systems are basically the same as the Early 2011 ones, it was easy to back port it.

100% guessing on my part though, I have no inside knowledge.
Click to expand...

If anything this means that there won't be a refresh anytime soon otherwise they wouldn't have bothered pushing this out.
 
wackymacky

wackymacky

macrumors 68000
Sep 20, 2007
1,546
53
38°39′20″N 27°13′10″W
How slow will the process be though, if you need to download the whole OS again to recover.
Really, I know that they are trying to be forward thinking, but given the speed of internet across a large proportion of the world, I still think they should include a recovery disk/USB
 
C

Cougarcat

macrumors 604
Sep 19, 2003
7,766
2,553
h00ligan said:
I must be missing something. The 'early 2011' macbook pro I just got has lion recovery built in.....

So I actually assume this update may have already been done or something.

They make it sound like no machine has ever had this but the air and mini...

The question is - does the lion recovery now bring back the flipping apple hardware test that disappears with a drive swap/partition/format... ?
Click to expand...

The recovery partition is different from Internet Recovery. Internet Recovery will download OS X if nothing is found on the drive.
 
S

Suprimir

macrumors newbie
Sep 14, 2011
6
4
Jakarta
I have problem with the update

The system stuck in a chimes loop. I turn off and press the button until sleep led flashes. I did it 4 times. Really annoying but works fine!!
 
J

JTToft

macrumors 68040
Apr 27, 2010
3,447
796
Aarhus, Denmark
h00ligan said:
The 'early 2011' macbook pro I just got has lion recovery built in.....
Click to expand...

- Correct. But the recovery partition included with Lion is different from the new Internet Recovery feature in one fundamental area. With the Internet Recovery feature, Lion is downloaded over the internet and can thus be installed on a blank hard drive; with Lion's built in recovery partition, a local copy of Lion is kept on a partition on the user's hard drive (and this local copy of Lion is, naturally, of no use on a blank hard drive, since it won't exist on a blank hard drive).
 
B

Bkfraiders7

macrumors regular
Sep 4, 2011
122
30
h00ligan said:
I must be missing something. The 'early 2011' macbook pro I just got has lion recovery built in.....

So I actually assume this update may have already been done or something.

They make it sound like no machine has ever had this but the air and mini...

The question is - does the lion recovery now bring back the flipping apple hardware test that disappears with a drive swap/partition/format... ?
Click to expand...

More likely then not your confusing Lion Recovery and Lion Internet Recovery. Any system with Lion installed can do Lion Recovery but now MBA, Mac Mini, and 2011 MBP has another option where they can download the file from the Internet to install Lion without needing any physical media.

Hope that helps a little :)

Edit: so got beat to replying to this lol
 
Tsuchiya

Tsuchiya

macrumors 68020
Jun 7, 2008
2,310
372
I could have sworn that I came up with this idea a few months back during my Apple Retail interview :confused: We had to come up with a service that Apple don't currently offer...

Not saying that they copied me, but we had to sign some sort of NDA with them at the start :D

edit: oh, it's slightly different. Still, if they begin to offer a time-machine like restore via iCloud, you heard it here first :D
 
C

charlitis

macrumors newbie
Feb 24, 2011
6
0
If you use TrueCrypt or FileVault, you can see that with this EFI update Apple has also enabled AES-NI in the low-end 15' MBP with the 2635-QM processor!
 
T

Treeman574

macrumors regular
Feb 5, 2011
123
0
QLD, Australia
For me this is a terrible solution. Also for people with slow internet connections or small download limits this would not be possible. Plus with a file that size, the download is likely to fail at some point.

I've created a full install usb, but apparently that is frowned upon by apple? I don't see why since I'm not pirating anything, just saving some time and downloads.
 
Weaselboy

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,133
15,596
California
Did not show up in software update for my 2011 13" MBP, so I downloaded manually and installed with no problem. Seems to work fine so far.
 
O

oiuh151

macrumors 6502
May 18, 2011
359
0
Treeman574 said:
For me this is a terrible solution. Also for people with slow internet connections or small download limits this would not be possible. Plus with a file that size, the download is likely to fail at some point.

I've created a full install usb, but apparently that is frowned upon by apple? I don't see why since I'm not pirating anything, just saving some time and downloads.
Click to expand...

http://www.apple.com/macosx/recovery/
The Do-It-Yourself Recovery Tool.
Not all Macs running OS X Lion are enabled for Internet Recovery. But Apple still has you covered with the Recovery Disk Assistant. You can create a bootable Lion Recovery drive using your own USB drive that does everything to recover your Mac, including reinstalling Lion from Apple servers.
Click to expand...
 
N

nicklad

macrumors 6502
Jun 13, 2007
258
3
Nottingham, UK
Treeman574 said:
For me this is a terrible solution. Also for people with slow internet connections or small download limits this would not be possible. Plus with a file that size, the download is likely to fail at some point.

I've created a full install usb, but apparently that is frowned upon by apple? I don't see why since I'm not pirating anything, just saving some time and downloads.
Click to expand...

For you it may be a terrible solution.
For others, it is a great solution.

It is just another recovery option. Nobody is forced to use it.

----------
oiuh151 said:
If anything this means that there won't be a refresh anytime soon otherwise they wouldn't have bothered pushing this out.
Click to expand...

Or it is unification with new boards that are coming out that have faster processors in them. They will differ only in that processor so it would make pragmatic engineering sense.

They have also fixed a bunch of issues with this update too, which they had to do anyway.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom