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Apple issues Lion recovery tool

Apple has released software that allows Mac OS X Lion users to create a recovery backup on external media.The recovery software, released on Monday, helps people get their machines up and running again following a hard drive failure or replacement.
Written by Ben Woods, Contributor

Apple has released software that allows Mac OS X Lion users to create a recovery backup on external media.

The recovery software, released on Monday, helps people get their machines up and running again following a hard drive failure or replacement.

Mac devices sold running the Lion operating system come with a 'Recovery HD' partition located on the hard disk, but it is of little use if the disk itself fails. It is also no use to people that want, or need, to replace the hard disk.

The new Lion recovery disk assistant provides the same options as the pre-loaded lion recovery tools, meaning users can reinstall the OS, repair or restore Lion from a Time Machine backup, or browse the web with Safari.

The backup can be created on any external hard drive or thumb drive with at least 1GB of free space but Apple said users should back up their data on the external drive, or create a separate partition, as the recovery disk assistant will wipe the device.

The recovery disk assistant is available to download now from the Mac app store.

On Monday, Skype issued an update for its VoIP software to provide compatibility with Mac OS X Lion, as well as bringing HD video calling to the platform.

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