Restore Efs Partition (without Backup)

[Eustolia Pennycuff]

Fora full backup, you'll typically want to backup everything except cache. and-sec and data are optional as well if all you care about is a working ROM. So if you checked off all the partitions TWRP listed, you should be good. It doesn't check EFS by default so if you have a partition like that, you might want to include it.

The .ext4.win files (you should have boot, system, and data which might be broken into smaller pieces) are actually tar archives, which you can open to view the files. boot.emmc.win will be a binary file, but you could do a hash check against your existing boot image or something if you wanted.

Given that you would have to restore this backup with TWRP, backing up recovery isn't really necessary or relevant! However, if you are worried you could back it up manually from a privileged shell/terminal:

Just make sure that if= matches the location of your recovery partition, which is probably different from mine. If your device doesn't have a by-name listing then you will probably have to look up online to find which partition is recovery. If you don't have readlink, try ls -l instead.

I have a new computer with Windows pre-installed. I will re-partition the hard drive, keeping the original Windows installation (on a now-smaller partition) and dual-boot Linux. I will install programs and keep user data on separate partitions. Something like this:

I wish to take a snapshot of the Windows installation on sda1. I could dd if=/dev/sda1 of=/home/me/sda1.img and I believe that would be sufficient to back up the files as well as the MBR, and that the reverse dd would correctly restore me to the initial (bootable) state.

If you want to make a file-level backup from within Linux, use wimcapture from wimlib (this is equivalent to the official DISM imaging tool that comes with Windows) and make sure to point it at a raw disk device, so that it could use libntfs-3g to read most of the metadata into a WIM-format archive:

This will create a sparse file, which only occupies as much space as it contains data, even though on the outside it looks much larger. You can archive it but make sure to use tar --sparse. Special tools aren't needed to restore this image, just cp or dd it back to the partition.

First, it isn't very useful to back up the "boot code" part of the MBR. It contains very generic code and there are tools both on Windows (bootsect.exe) and Linux (ms-sys) which can write a fresh boot code on demand. (Unless you've overwritten it with GRUB already, in which case you can just use grub-install.)

For file-level backup on Windows I'm using Veeam Agent. It's based on Windows's shadow copy mechanism. It can restore an unbootable system using a recovery media, but it has to be built for a particular system - there's no generic recovery media image.

I've just restored my latest backup using Time Machine on a new MacBook, upon re-checking all the iCloud settings, I found out the Find My Mac can't be activated because it's missing the Recovery Partition.

Is there a better way to create the Recovery Partition without reinstalling the macOS? Or without using another Mac, because I don't have another one and there's no Genius Bar (or Apple Store) in this forsaken country of mine, not to mention I live in a remote little town.

Again, make sure that you quit the installer before you use it, so that you can either copy it or move it outside of Applications folder. Make sure you make a copy and not just an alias. Then when you use the installer, it won't self delete.

I suggest that you review how your disk is partitioned. High sierra introduces APFS and it handles partitions differently than HFS+. Mac Mini is generally older disk technology, and favors HFS. High Sierra defaults to APFS, regardless of the technology it is installing. Mac OS Disk Utility lets you manually reset and repair your obviously confused partitions.

Partition a Physical Disk may help you to understand why some parts of your running system cannot recognize Recovery in other parts of your system. I used Apple's information to reset a struggling system to HFS+ from default APFS. After the reset to HFS+ that older Fusion system self-updated to APFS without Recovery problems.

You don't need another Mac machine. You need a USB device to hold the macOS installer, that is your second Mac. Every mac owner in a rural area needs a USB installer for each macOS version that is used. Installer good for unlimited Mac machines.

Now, You live off the beaten path (the best way to live) so you may have a USB stick to install Sierra 10.12.6. Without a stick you would be forced to upgrade to High Sierra, as that is al that Apple downloads now.

Unfortunately, reinstall is your only option, if your Recovery partition is damaged. It may be that your connection to Apple's server farms is corrupted by rural technology coupled with distance. But would not leave that to chance.

We had doubts about updating our old 2011 Mac Book. Glad we did. You will need a USB to effect repair safely. Also good you have a pair of Apples. Update one and use the other to restore for another attempt if connection fails. Connection can fail in two ways, as you know.

Understood. Now further, Read carefully my two previous posts. 10.12.6 upgrade to 10.13.2 is painless here in metropolitan Canada. Friends in the hills are still using Lion. That said, the update to APFS is worth those few attempts. Especially if you move files around in Finder.

Finally, there are no issues system-wise with 2-step Sierra HFS to High Sierra HFS+ to High Sierra APFS... personally though, got lost in the increased stability of HFS+ and hosetly just forgot to update my desktop staple diet to APFS until it suddenly occured to me, a few days ago. Anyway, take your time. Downloading installer, a day. Update another day. Keep your personal data safe.

Because it took more than two and a half hours yesterday for me to reinstall the macOS on the old MacBook, seems like it downloaded the macOS Sierra via internet. (I had to erase the HD because I was selling it)

The initial reason the Recovery Partition was gone because I restored the latest Time Machine backup on the new MacBook, but I like the fact that everything is like the last time I used the old MacBook.

Just to note, there probably won't be anymore point updates to Sierra before the release of High Sierra (Can't really speculate though), but many people download the latest full installers and run them over their existing partitions in lieu of using the App Store Software Update feature.

Unfortunately. I have the same problem. My Recovery partition is gone after upgrading Sierra to High Sierra on a Mac Mini... none of the above posts addressed. It was supposed to be a no brainer as in the past.

Exactly. I just re-ran the High Sierra installer and it didn't give me any choices at all. Just went through the automated reinstall process and rebooted me back to square 1. Didn't create the recovery partition.

I have been told by those who know that if I insist on pushing (forcing) APFS straight onto systems having initial problems with APFS, that is fruitless. For one thing, you will need another backup than Time Machine if you use Airport Extreme Time Capsule, as old HFS backups are not discoverable (wrong partition association) for APFS Time Machine. Apple Engineers will have that Time Machine Recovery sorted out soon. However, sadly our Time Capsule was lost cause after failed APFS update, because even though Capsule Disk Recovery was not found in APFS macOS, it had been "touched" by the APFS installer, rendering it useless to HFS and APFS. Use a good old-fashioned manual folders-with-files backup to any external media. Fortunately we had sticks to copy our files to before the initial APFS install. We used our backup sticks to Restore personal data not stored in iCloud following the Repair-Erase.

Erase your boot partition having initial problems with APFS. YOU MUST manually configure High Sierra to reset Boot Disk to HFS+. Your HFS+ recovery of Recovery should now be complete.

If it's any encouragement, iCloud saved data is not any concern. Also, we found that our gradual graduation of Macs was not necessary. After waiting a month, AppleCare advised to update more directly, first from Sierra to High Sierra HFS+ and then immediately to APFS. Immediate two-step High Sierra Installer HFS+-APFS is the best way forward for all of our Macs, 2017 new and 2011 old.

Unfortunately, Apple forums do not run like Wiki. Posters cannot return and correct incorrect post information later. In my first post to thread author, I indicated that High Sierra happily "self-updated". This is incorrect, as I had to manually run High Sierra update by myself. Possible future auto-update aside, I hope that I did not keep anyone from updating now.

According to MS's documentation, capture-and-apply-windows-system-and-recovery-partitions, the recovery partition can be captured and applied to a new partition. I have made it to work on my windows 10 PC.

Recovery environment was automatically rediscovered and booted WinRE just fine with all recovery options (Reset/System Image restore/etc). I had only 1 C: partition, no special partitioning/dual booting/multiple recovery partition/crazy BCDEDIT settings beforehand, which helped. Tested inside a VM beforehard to make sure. Had no problems after executing live.

I had the same problem. Instead of DISKPART> remove execute mountvol N: /d on the command line. If you already have removed the partition first reassign a drive letter to the new recovery partition with assign letter=N (normally reagentc /info should now show the correct status again, otherwise repeat step 4 of VainMans instructions).

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