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I have two USB sticks:

  • An "installation" drive created with Disk Utility by locating the .dmg file hidden in the contents directory of the Mavericks installer. I used an 8GB stick for that. ( this method )
  • A "recovery" USB stick ( 1 GB stick ) created with Recovery Disk Assistant. ( this method )

The answer:

Do I need both of them ? If I do, why? If I don't, why ?

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They do different things.

Recovery USB allows you to boot your Mac and run recovery software and "investigate" Tue condition of the software, hardware, etc. To use that to reinstall OSX requires an active internet connection (Ethernet I think) to download an image to install again.

Install USB does a'll that, and can perform a full reinstall with no internet connection.

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  • So the USB install ( created with Disk Utility from the .dmg file buried within the installer bundle ) can also be used for recovery and diagnostic of the software and hardware ? That means I need to keep only that USB stick ?
    – Tulains Córdova
    Nov 6, 2013 at 1:10
  • @user1598390: Correct, the installer can do everything recovery can and install without needing an Internet connection.
    – Gordon Davisson
    Nov 6, 2013 at 2:06

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