# OS X can't be installed on the disk Macintosh HD, because a recovery system can't...



## simplyfoods (Aug 14, 2012)

I've tried to upgrade to Mountain Lion from Lion, but am told that the installation failed and that 'OS X can't be installed on the disk Macintosh HD, because a recovery system can't be created.' From what I've read online, this has something to do with my hard drive partitions.

If I were to create a bootable thumb drive with the ML installer file, would I be able to complete the installation or would the same problem occur? I'm more than happy to erase all my hard drive data and partitions if that's necessary and I would much rather a quick and easy method that erases all my data than a complicated method which keeps all my data intact.


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

IMHO, never do upgrades, only fresh installs. The fastest and simplest thing is to create a bootable 10.8 installer from many online instructions and use it to reformat your hard drive and then do an install.


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