Deleted Macintosh HD in Disk Utility - Help?

[gaselli22]

Hello community - I'm new here and looking for some help.
While remotely trying to assist my mom yesterday with erasing her Macintosh HD on her 8 year old iMac we accidentally deleted it.
Now I don't have a volume to install the OS.
How would I go about creating a new volume with the correct properties to install the OS?
Thank you so much!

 

[webbga]

Hello community - I'm new here and looking for some help.
While remotely trying to assist my mom yesterday with erasing her Macintosh HD on her 8 year old iMac we accidentally deleted it.
Now I don't have a volume to install the OS.
How would I go about creating a new volume with the correct properties to install the OS?
Thank you so much!

Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND-OPTION- R keys until a globe appears on the screen. Wait patiently - 15-20 minutes - until the Recovery main menu appears. Partition and Format the hard drive: Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button

 

[gaselli22]

Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND-OPTION- R keys until a globe appears on the screen. Wait patiently - 15-20 minutes - until the Recovery main menu appears. Partition and Format the hard drive: Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button

Thank you so much for your reply! We have been successful in getting to the Disk Utility but I don't understand the logic/process behind Partitioning & Formatting the hard drive. Could you elaborate a bit on that?

 

[Fishrrman]

It would help to know what year the iMac was made and what version of the OS had been previously running on it.

When you get to internet recovery, try this:

1. Open disk utility.

2. Go to the menu bar. Is there a "view" menu? If so, choose "Show all devices" if it's there. If it's NOT there, don't worry about this and go to step 3.

3. In disk utility's window, look to the left. Click on the "TOP line" on the left. This represents the actual physical drive inside.

4. Click "erase". Now...
- if you're going to install Mojave or Catalina (I would not install Catalina unless there is no other choice), choose to erase in APFS, with GUID partition format
- if you're going to install High Sierra or something older, choose "Mac OS extended with journaling enabled", GUID partition format

5. Once you choose this, now click the erase button. It shouldn't take long.

6. Now quit disk utility and open the OS installer. Start "clicking through" the screens. The OS install will probably restart the Mac once or twice, the screen may go dark for a little while, and you will see "the progress bar" one or more times.

7. When the OS install is done, you'll see the initial setup screen "choose your language". Begin clicking through from there.

8. If you have a backup, wait until setup assistant asks if you wish to migrate from another Mac or drive. Then connect it and give setup assistant some time to "digest" everything. I suggest you accept all the defaults and migrate everything.

9. If there is no backup, just create another new account and get started all over again...

 

[gaselli22]

It would help to know what year the iMac was made and what version of the OS had been previously running on it.

When you get to internet recovery, try this:

1. Open disk utility.

2. Go to the menu bar. Is there a "view" menu? If so, choose "Show all devices" if it's there. If it's NOT there, don't worry about this and go to step 3.

3. In disk utility's window, look to the left. Click on the "TOP line" on the left. This represents the actual physical drive inside.

4. Click "erase". Now...
- if you're going to install Mojave or Catalina (I would not install Catalina unless there is no other choice), choose to erase in APFS, with GUID partition format
- if you're going to install High Sierra or something older, choose "Mac OS extended with journaling enabled", GUID partition format

5. Once you choose this, now click the erase button. It shouldn't take long.

6. Now quit disk utility and open the OS installer. Start "clicking through" the screens. The OS install will probably restart the Mac once or twice, the screen may go dark for a little while, and you will see "the progress bar" one or more times.

7. When the OS install is done, you'll see the initial setup screen "choose your language". Begin clicking through from there.

8. If you have a backup, wait until setup assistant asks if you wish to migrate from another Mac or drive. Then connect it and give setup assistant some time to "digest" everything. I suggest you accept all the defaults and migrate everything.

9. If there is no backup, just create another new account and get started all over again...

Thank you! Will test this. It is from 2014 and was running Catalina before we started this process.

 

[gaselli22]

It would help to know what year the iMac was made and what version of the OS had been previously running on it.

When you get to internet recovery, try this:

1. Open disk utility.

2. Go to the menu bar. Is there a "view" menu? If so, choose "Show all devices" if it's there. If it's NOT there, don't worry about this and go to step 3.

3. In disk utility's window, look to the left. Click on the "TOP line" on the left. This represents the actual physical drive inside.

4. Click "erase". Now...
- if you're going to install Mojave or Catalina (I would not install Catalina unless there is no other choice), choose to erase in APFS, with GUID partition format
- if you're going to install High Sierra or something older, choose "Mac OS extended with journaling enabled", GUID partition format

5. Once you choose this, now click the erase button. It shouldn't take long.

6. Now quit disk utility and open the OS installer. Start "clicking through" the screens. The OS install will probably restart the Mac once or twice, the screen may go dark for a little while, and you will see "the progress bar" one or more times.

7. When the OS install is done, you'll see the initial setup screen "choose your language". Begin clicking through from there.

8. If you have a backup, wait until setup assistant asks if you wish to migrate from another Mac or drive. Then connect it and give setup assistant some time to "digest" everything. I suggest you accept all the defaults and migrate everything.

9. If there is no backup, just create another new account and get started all over again...

Hey again, all is looking good so far. Was only able to proceed with Catalina. May I ask why you recommend not going with that OS if possible?

 

[Fishrrman]

"Was only able to proceed with Catalina. May I ask why you recommend not going with that OS if possible?"

Go to the Catalina sub-forum here, and see what others have to say.
But if it works... well... just use it.

 

[andyo23]

It would help to know what year the iMac was made and what version of the OS had been previously running on it.

When you get to internet recovery, try this:

1. Open disk utility.

2. Go to the menu bar. Is there a "view" menu? If so, choose "Show all devices" if it's there. If it's NOT there, don't worry about this and go to step 3.

3. In disk utility's window, look to the left. Click on the "TOP line" on the left. This represents the actual physical drive inside.

4. Click "erase". Now...
- if you're going to install Mojave or Catalina (I would not install Catalina unless there is no other choice), choose to erase in APFS, with GUID partition format
- if you're going to install High Sierra or something older, choose "Mac OS extended with journaling enabled", GUID partition format

5. Once you choose this, now click the erase button. It shouldn't take long.

6. Now quit disk utility and open the OS installer. Start "clicking through" the screens. The OS install will probably restart the Mac once or twice, the screen may go dark for a little while, and you will see "the progress bar" one or more times.

7. When the OS install is done, you'll see the initial setup screen "choose your language". Begin clicking through from there.

8. If you have a backup, wait until setup assistant asks if you wish to migrate from another Mac or drive. Then connect it and give setup assistant some time to "digest" everything. I suggest you accept all the defaults and migrate everything.

9. If there is no backup, just create another new account and get started all over again...

Just wanted to tell you you are a life saver, I had such a hard time with the apple support over the phone and I ended up deleting the mac OS by mistake, and I freaked out and everything - so dramatic but is true! - then I found your comment and I was able to fix it. THANK YOU!