Partitions are critical to recovering lost data because they repair and reinstall operating systems after the OS has been corrupted or simply failed. At their core, partitions hide data in the root of the hard drive where it will be safe from overwriting and disc modification.

While partitions have been a part of the Mac OSs for a while (beginning with “Lion”) they don’t always fix the problem. If you experience a hard drive failure, or if your recovery partition wasn’t created during the initial installation process, you may have trouble retrieving data.

In this and other cases, you’ll want to create your own recovery partition. This isn’t all that difficult. If you install OS X Mavericks, you can download a Partition Creator App that will scan your drive for issues, then it will make recommendations on what new files to download and will offer a few options for the type of recovery partition you’d like to make.

After making your partition you’ll want to reboot your computer right to the partition by holding down Control + R. The recovery partition itself is capable of loading a clone of OS X as well as wipe information and help you troubleshoot.

This is all to say that partitions are really, really useful for a range of security issues. Of course, there may be those instances where your hardware has incurred damage to an extent that you can’t create a partition. In these cases you’ll have no other option but to go to a forensic recovery expert.

Time is of the essence when it comes to recovery—especially if you haven’t yet lost a file. Your best bet is to think ahead and familiarize yourself with the process so that when trouble strikes you can stay calm and confident.