14 DAY TRIAL // Three new firmware updates are available for download onto 2010 Mac computers, enabling Internet Recovery on systems running OS X Lion.
iMac EFI Update 1.8 “enables Lion Recovery from an Internet connection on iMac (Mid 2010) models,” says Apple.
MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.6 does the same thing for MacBook Pro (Early 2010) models.
A third firmware update targets Late 2010 MacBook Air computers. In addition to bringing Lion Recovery, the update also fixes a reboot issue.
MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update 2.3 “enables Lion Recovery from an Internet connection on MacBook Air (Late 2010) models and addresses an issue where the system could restart if the power button is pressed immediately after waking from deep sleep,” Apple elaborates.
Recovery is a Lion-specific function comprising a set of tools for repairing your Mac in the Recovery HD.
You can repair disks or reinstall OS X Lion without a physical disc by holding down Command-R during startup to boot into the Recovery HD. Alternately, users can also hold down the Option key during startup and select Recovery HD.
“Should you ever need to reinstall OS X, the Recovery HD includes everything you need to install a fresh copy of Lion,” Apple explains on the Lion marketing page. “Choose Reinstall Mac OS X from the Utilities pane and a new copy of Lion will be downloaded and installed, preserving your existing data.”
“If you ever need to start over fresh, you can use the Recovery HD to erase the contents of your drive and then restore all of your data, including OS X Lion, applications, documents, and settings, from a Time Machine backup,” the company adds.