It is, in essence, a small (650MB) partition on your Mac’s internal hard drive (traditional magnetic HDD or solid state disc SSD) that is ‘hidden’ and reserved for common utilities such as Disk Utility. The recovery partition is a new feature of OS X that allows you to restore system software to your Mac with just a few clicks, without the use of DVDs or USB drives. If you already understand the Recovery Partition and understand the implications of deleting it, head straight on to the section How Do I Delete the Recovery Partition? It takes up minimal space and provides handy tools in the unlikely event of problems with the machine.įor the Mac owner with a Mac that has been upgraded from it’s original OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard operating system, then there are reasons why the removal of the recovery partition might be desirable.įirst we’ll examine what the Recovery Partition is, and what it does, before deciding if it should be removed, and under what circumstances, with a step-by-step guide to doing so. It takes up minimal space and provides handy tools in the unlikely event of problems with the machine. I'll also walk you through the removal process.įor the normal Mac owner with a Mac running OS X 10.7 Lion or 10.8 Mountain Lion, there are few compelling reasons as to why the Recovery Partition should be removed. This article looks at what the Recovery Partition is, what it does, and why you might want to remove it. There are, however, certain circumstances where you will want to remove this recovery partition. When you upgrade your Intel Mac from Snow Leopard to Lion, Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion, or even Snow Leopard to Lion and then again to Mountain Lion, the installation process creates a special “Recovery Partition”.

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