Fusion Drive, Bootcamp and FileVault - with working Recovery HD?

Question

since I experimented a lot on this issue without coming to a solution, I hope someone else could help me with it.

I've got currently running a setup with those partitions:

• Fusion Drive (Mavericks)
• Windows (Windows 7 Ultimate 64)
• Recovery HD

diskutil list

gives me the standard output for Apple-made and self-made Fusion Drives with recovery HD:

Andys-Macbook-Pro:~ Andy$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *512.1 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         511.8 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk0s3
/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk1
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         845.3 GB   disk1s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk1s3
   4:       Microsoft Basic Data Windows 7               154.0 GB   disk1s4
/dev/disk2
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS Mac OS X               *1.4 TB     disk2 

Here's the problem: When I boot with alt I can't access the recovery HD, which I understand is common. But also using Command-R doesn't boot the recovery HD, instead it starts Internet Recovery (which should start on Command-Alt-R?!) All features like Find my Mac or FileVault 2 (FileVault's encrypting as I write) work just fine as far as I can see. My MacBook is located correctly and I can play a sound on the Mac from iCloud.com, so I guess it works just the way it should. Everything else works fine, too.

I don't really need my Recovery HD, because I also got another external recovery partition on an USB Stick. But I would be glad to know about what's the issue here, especially since it makes me feel crumbly to have an encrypted drive which relys on a not correctly installed Recovery HD by using CoreStorage. Running on a correct setup would make me feel a lot better ;)

I installed it by the following steps: DIY Fusion Drive: Adding Recovery HD to a CoreStorage Volume Group (First made install on HD to create Recovery HD, then merging Full SSD and HDD partition, recovering backup from CCC)

What I also do know is it's important to setup BootCamp prior FileVault. I restored my Windows 7 from a Winclone Image, since that is much more convenient, than installing Windows and all the utilities you need every time. I'm also very sure that this isn't causing the issue.

Im using a MacBook Pro 9,1 (mid 2012, non Retina) with a 512 GB Samsung 840 Pro in Optibay using OWC Data Doubler and 1 TB WD Scorpio Blue in Drivebay. I've got 2 SATA III ports, so it seemed better to leave the HD in Drivebay to avoid noise and keep the Sudden Motion Sensor working... Also got a 16 GB RAM upgrade when I got my SSD in March, but I don't think thats important though.

So whats the solution for this mess?

3 additional questions:

1. Will I be able to boot to Recovery HD using FileVault (assuming it works properly)? If it works after the encryption, I wouldn't make an effort to fix it...
2. Will the second Boot Device which boots OS X which is there because of Fusion Drive usually disappear after encryption ist done?
3. Can Windows booted from a device in optibay (My first setup when I got my SSD was: 2 partitions on SSD, one for the Fusion Drive and one for Windows, to get that fast, too. But I couldn't work it out to boot, it always gave me the "no bootable device" error. Some others have stated though, When installed in the Drivebay, a Windows installation can be put back into optibay after that and works fine: Windows will not boot to my boot camp partition on a DIY fusion drive - gives "No bootable device found" error)

EDIT: bless -info -verbose gives me:

Andys-Macbook-Pro:~ Andy$ bless -info -verbose
EFI found at IODeviceTree:/efi
Current EFI boot device string is: '<array><dict><key>IOMatch</key><dict><key>IOProviderClass</key><string>IOMedia</string><key>IOPropertyMatch</key><dict><key>UUID</key><string>2B1B626D-ECA3-45E0-B2C1-F9091B0BE3F4</string></dict></dict><key>BLLastBSDName</key><string>disk10s2</string></dict></array>'
Boot option is 8BE4DF61-93CA-11D2-AA0D-00E098032B8C:Boot0080
Processing boot option 'Mac OS X'
Boot option matches XML representation
Could not find disk device for string
Could not find network interface.
Firmware feature mask: 0xC003FF37
Firmware features: 0xC001F537
Legacy mode suppported
Boot option is not a legacy device
Could not interpret boot device as either network or disk
Can't interpet EFI boot device

I will try to rename the Recovery HD to "Boot OS X" but I've seen others which have called it recovery HD and it works just fine... How can a Core Storage operation relocate a Recovery partition, never heard of that?!

Answer 1

OS X Internet Recovery
Mac models introduced after public availability of OS X Lion include the ability to start up directly from an Internet-based version of the OS X Recovery system. OS X automatically uses this feature when the Recovery System on the hard disk isn't available (such as when your hard disk encounters an issue, or when your hard disk has been replaced or erased).

My setup is a Mac mini 2011 with a DIY Fusion drive (840 Pro + 1 TB Hitachi). The Fusion drive was built on 10.8 and then the machine was upgraded to 10.9.

diskutil list 
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *256.1 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         255.7 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk0s3
/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk1
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         934.5 GB   disk1s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               650.0 MB   disk1s3
   4:       Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP                64.9 GB    disk1s4
/dev/disk2
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS Fusion HD              *1.2 TB     disk2

1. When I press alt, I get three entries, Fusion, Fusion, Boot Camp. Either Fusion being selected boots the main OS. Bootcamp boots Windows.

2. ⌘R boots local Recovery HD (not Internet Recovery). I have a choice of Wi-Fi, if I need Internet Recovery.

In your case, is it possible the Recovery HD is damaged?

Answer 2

I couldn't see where you list your operating system version. According to this ASN thread, 1: you need 10.8.3 or later, and 2. there are still lots of problems reported using Fusion drives. Most everyone recommends using a VM instead.

Answer 3

So, I came to a unexpected resolution, I just saw I could clone my internal recovery HD with CCC from my external CCC Backup (where I cloned it to when I started the backup a few weeks ago). After that the Recovery HD worked properly, the second "Mac OS X" boot device on alt pressing on startup disappeared and it shows a "Wiederherstellung 10.9" instead. That boots the Recovery HD, CMD+R still boots Internet Recovery, but I'm fine with that :)