Recovery Partition Needed for 2-Factor Authentication
 

I understand from other threads that SD does not copy the Recovery Partition. But... I just enabled 2-factor Authentication for Apple's ID, and now Mavericks will not let me select my Mac as a known device. The consequence is that every time I access iCloud, download updates, or any of several other activities, Apple makes me go through several extra steps (select a device for Apple to send a 4-digit code to, and then I have to enter that code in my Mac). Way more than I bargained for.

The stated reason that I cannot select my Mac as a "recognized" device (so that the code sending happens just once) is that Apple disabled Find My Mac (just on my Mac – it still works on my other devices) when I enabled 2-factor Authentication. (Or, at least, last time I checked a few weeks ago, my computer was included in Find My Mac.) The message I get is that in order to enable Find My Mac I must have a Recovery Partition. Now.... my boot SSD has 3 partitions: Sandbox, MacHD, and Recovery HD. The latter is a Mavericks recovery partition and I can access it through the Finder (as an invisible partition), but Find My Mac doesn't recognize this partition. I am guessing that this is because SD doesn't copy the recovery partition?

I performed a cmd-R reboot and after a long delay Sandbox rebooted, so apparently my recovery drive really no longer is valid.

Should I try a network install of of Mavericks on Sandbox to see if that will repair the recovery partition? Or does SD not copying it make the difference?

If you reinstall the OS, it should recreate the recovery volume. I'd delete the one you have first, though.

Thanks, Dave. That worked.

Glad to hear it. It's really very easy to recreate a recovery volume...