Recovery

Read Cult of Mac’s latest posts on Recovery:

The Reason Why The World Isn’t Ready For Lion Internet Recoveries [Opinion]

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Apple is pushing out more updates to computers released in 2011 to enable Lion Internet recovery. Initially this recovery feature was only available on the MacBook Air and Mac Mini when they made their debut in July.  Recently, however, Apple made it available on certain model MacBook notebooks and this week it was released for early 2011 iMacs like the one I purchased in June.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m surprised that Apple enabled Lion Internet Recovery on my iMac. I thought they’d hold out and only offer it on a refreshed model as an incentive to upgrade.

Win a Free Copy of Disk Drill Pro! [Giveaway]

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The newest app to grace the Deals.CultofMac.com hub is a nifty little tool called Disk Drill Pro. This is a sort of app that you hope you never have to use, but is a lifesaver when it’s called to the line of duty. In almost any situation Disk Drill Pro can assist in recovering lost data on your Mac. It has patented technology to deep-scan your hard drive and find files you thought were gone forever. Currently, the app is on sale at deals.cultofmac.com for $30 (that’s 66% off its usual $89 price-tag).

Today we’re holding a giveaway for 2 app codes of Disk Drill Pro. You have to actually play to win the giveaway though, so here are the rules for the contest:

Force Lion To Start Internet Recovery On Your July 2011 Or Later Mac [OS X Tips]

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Apple has introduced new recovery features available through a combination of new hardware and software. One of these new features is called Lion Internet Recovery which will allow you to start your 2011 MacBook Air or Mac Mini directly from Apple’s servers.

The recovery process starts when the Command+R option doesn’t work or when you install a brand new blank hard drive.

Here is a tip that will let you force your 2011 or later Mac to launch Internet Recovery on startup.

Beware! OS X Lion Can Hose Your Recovery Partition! Here’s How You Can Try To Fix It

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Apple’s new MacBook Air models don’t ship with OS X Lion on a USB thumb drive like they used to. That diminutive little white wedge of flash storage is gone, no where to be found inside of the box that these computers ship in. If you want one, you’ll need to pay Apple $69 for the privilege in August.

That’s a potentially big problem for some users. Yesterday, I found this out the hard way after an attempt to install Mac OS X Lion onto a 32GB Class 10 SDHC card failed. Apple’s failure to ship their new Macs with any media can leave you with a hosed Recovery HD partition, and a potentially lengthy fix may be the only way to get it back.

First Apple Assassinates Optical Media, Now USB Thumb Drives Need Witness Protection

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Apple’s line of MacBook Airs never shipped with an optical drive and now the Mac Mini has joined the party. The new Mac Mini, released this week, no longer includes one of these drives either. If you want an optical drive to use with these Macs you have to purchase an external USB SuperDrive. Now the arrival of the new MacBook Air and Mac Mini herald the death of the USB thumb drive.

You might be surprised to find out that neither these systems ship with a set of  DVDs or a USB thumb drive that you can use to restore, repair or reinstall Mac OS X.

Instead Apple has come up with something new.

OS X Lion Can Be Clean Installed At Boot-Up, No Snow Leopard Required

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Apple’s upcoming OS X Lion release is expected to launch tomorrow, and when it does, it will be available exclusively through the Mac App Store. That means you’ll no longer be able to walk into an Apple retail store and purchase the release on DVD.

That’s great for the environment, but it can make recovering your machine a little more difficult. Apple’s new recovery plans for Lion, however, could make the whole process a walk in the park.

In Israel, Find My iPad feature Gets the Goods, Impresses Police

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Smashed Window on Victim's Car (Image: Jacob Dayan)

We’ve reported a number of times about how Apple’s Find my iPad (or iPhone) feature has helped retrieve multiple lost or stolen iDevices. This week reader Jacob Dayan from Israel wrote to tell us his own successful, and moderately harrowing, story about getting his iPad back when he returned to his car to find his window smashed and a bag of items missing. From his blog:

“When I call my wife to tell her the bad news, it hits me. I can find my iPad! I ask my daughter Vered to log in to my MobileMe accounts, and within few minutes I hear the good news – the blue dot is active, my iPad is on the map! I start the chase, and Vered instructs me from remote. “Turn left … they are heading to the other cemetery… they are now approaching Rt 40..”.

Dayan follows the thief for 10 miles, until his daughter reports that the iPad is inside an apartment building.