Remove Recovery Partition From Late 2012 iMacs

[asdfierie]

Is there any way to remove the recovery partition from the late 2012 iMacs, and start completely from scratch? I tried accessing disk utility from a Mountain Lion install DVD (which has worked on other iMacs), but it didn't come up in the list of options to boot from.

On a somewhat related note, I noticed that even after doing a 3 pass erase when I wiped the drive (or, at least what it would let me wipe using disk utility), the iMac still remembered my wireless network information. Is that removable? Thanks.

 

[macthefork]

The Recovery Partition only takes up around 650 MB, and is very useful in recovering from a corrupt system or restoring the system. It basically replaces the DVDs that used to come with a Mac. Since it takes up little space it is generally recommended you keep it. However, it is a security issue, in that anyone can restart your computer from the recovery partition.

If you want to remove the Recovery Partition, you can do it following these instructions from the site MacTuts+.

I used the Terminal command line shown at the link above to have the hidden Debug Menu in Disk Utility show in the menu bar whenever you open Disk Utility. Then, you check the box on the menu item to have Disk Utility show all disks. You can follow the above referenced instructions to show, then mount the partition, then delete it using Disk utility.

The information for connecting to the internet is entered and stored within the Operating System on the main partition AND the Recovery partition. This is so the OS can be downloaded from Apple, using the Recovery partition, in the event your working partition with the OS becomes corrupt. Erasing the main partition won't completely remove that information from your computer until you remove the Recovery partition.