Deleted my Mac OS

[Roxy.music]

I was putting Linux Mint on my computer with a USB flash drive,i restarted it when it was on my computer,and when i turned it back on found the Mac hard drive had been deleted .How do i go about putting it back on here?I have back ups,do i have to buy a USB flash drive of eBay i suppose that is the only way to do it.I have Windows 10 on a T5 SSD .But all i can get on here is Mint no chose of any other drives.

 

[mikzn]

Are you sure it deleted the MacOS ? Did you try starting with option button ?

ie "hold the Option (⌥) key immediately upon hearing the startup chime"

maybe it's still there?

 

[Roxy.music]

Are you sure it deleted the MacOS ? Did you try starting with option button ?

ie "hold the Option (⌥) key immediately upon hearing the startup chime"

maybe it's still there?

[doublepost=1563039456][/doublepost]No it has gone all that is there is Linux no other drives show back up drive is on so is the T5 SSD with Windows 10 on it.I have tried the Option key and the R key.

 

[Roxy.music]

Command and R it goes straight in to Linux no recovery mode.

 

[Roxy.music]

Is it possible to put Mac OS back on my MAC that no longer has the recovery partition ?
Because of me putting Linux on my machine with a bootable flash drive,i thought i was putting it on a external drive.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Yes, it's possible. Which exact Mac Mini do you have - what year?

 

[mikzn]

you can try "internet recovery" if your Mac Mini is supported ( how old is it? as FreakinEurekan mentioned?)

Option + Command (⌘) + R: Upgrade to the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac.
 Should launch internet recovery to find the latest MacOS compatible with your Mac.

my preference has always been to use an external back up drive - external boot drive - and boot from the external drive - then you can use disk utilities to see what is on the mini's drive and if it has partitiions etc? also you can install a new MacOS - You mentioned you have a back up above is it a clone? bootable?

If your linux install wiped the drive, it might make sense to partition the drive into 2 separate disks - one for linux and one for MacOS ( or Containers if using APFS)

it might help you get better answers if you provide more info about the mini and which MacOS ?

 

[Fishrrman]

It would sure help if you told us WHICH MAC you have, what year it was made, and what version of the Mac OS was running on it before you messed it up...?

 

[Roxy.music]

It is the 2012 Mac Mini
Mojave the latest version.I sure did mess it up.I will just keep Linux on a virtual machine in the future.The thing is it took no time to wipe it out,i was trying to get it on a external ssd.
[doublepost=1563127464][/doublepost]

you can try "internet recovery" if your Mac Mini is supported ( how old is it? as FreakinEurekan mentioned?)

Option + Command (⌘) + R: Upgrade to the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac.
 Should launch internet recovery to find the latest MacOS compatible with your Mac.

my preference has always been to use an external back up drive - external boot drive - and boot from the external drive - then you can use disk utilities to see what is on the mini's drive and if it has partitiions etc? also you can install a new MacOS - You mentioned you have a back up above is it a clone? bootable?

If your linux install wiped the drive, it might make sense to partition the drive into 2 separate disks - one for linux and one for MacOS ( or Containers if using APFS)

it might help you get better answers if you provide more info about the mini and which MacOS ?

 

[Roxy.music]

I have done all that it just goes straight to Linux Mint.I haven,t seen any videos on utube that don,t .see any Mac drives on there I have ordered usb Flash drive not the latest os the last but one.I have a external back uo drive.it was done with Time Machine yes it is bootable .It is all one drive 512 ssd.I am not sure how to partitiion a drive on Linux
The thing is i would like to put a second drive in my Mac and put another system in there.bur people have said it is a hard thing to do.Sorry i am not to good at explaining things in word.Thanks for replying to my post.Hope your weekend is going well.

 

[mikzn]

Well the good news is you made a back up

If your "time machine back up drive" on is bootable you should be able to connect it with a USB cable and boot from your back up clone / system - personally I am not a fan of "Time Machine" because it never seems to work when you need it (works fine when you don't need it)

if you can connect the "time machine back up" via USB - try the "Option (⌥) key immediately upon hearing the startup chime" - hopefully it will display the clone and you can start up the MacOS from the external drive and open disk utilities to examine the internal disk to see if it is truly wiped clean?

 

[Roxy.music]

The back up is connected no drives are showing it goes straight into Linux mint with the Mint Chime.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

It is the 2012 Mac Mini

The 2012 Mini has Internet Recovery, so reinstalling is going to be pretty straightforward.

Unplug everything from the computer other than display, keyboard, mouse, and Ethernet if you're using Ethernet.

If you have a USB keyboard, turn the computer on then immediately (before the grey screen) press and hold Command, Option, R to boot. If you have a Bluetooth keyboard, hold those keys before turning the computer on.

You should see a "Globe" onscreen, when you do you can let go of the keys. You'll come to a "macOS Utilities" screen, where you can open Disk Utility and erase the drive, and you can also access "Reinstall macOS" which will download & run the Mojave installer.

 

[Roxy.music]

Yes i know it had one on it, but sadly it is not showing nowno grey screen ,it goes into Linux in next to know time. I will waif to get my Mac USB Flash drive from ebay and see what happens with that.

 

[Roxy.music]

Yes i know it had one on it, but sadly it is not showing nowno grey screen ,it goes into Linux in next to know time. I will waif to get my Mac USB Flash drive from ebay and see what happens with that.

[doublepost=1563202791][/doublepost]Nothing seems to go right i just registered with the Linux forum ,i went to login and said my user name was my email address?changed it to my user name and still said it was wrong was hoping someone on there could find a solution to all this.

 

[Fishrrman]

I don't want to insult you, but do you understand the difference between the recovery partition and "internet recovery"?

Command-R at boot = recovery partition.

Command-OPTION-R at boot = internet recovery.

Try this (PRINT THIS OUT and check off steps as you go along):
1. Power down and disconnect everything except for keyboard and mouse
2. Press power on button, and IMMEDIATELY hold down "Command-OPTION-R" and KEEP HOLDING IT DOWN until the internet symbol appears
3. If you are connecting via wifi (instead of ethernet) you'll need to enter your wifi password
4. Booting up this way will TAKE SOME TIME. Be patient.
5. When you see the utilities menu, choose Disk Utility.
6. When Disk Utility opens, type "Command-2" to "show all devices" (you can also choose this from the View menu).
7. Now select the TOPMOST item in the list on the left. This represents your physical drive inside the computer.
8. Click the ERASE button and choose AFPS
9. Erase the drive.
10. When done, quit Disk Utility and open the OS installer
11. Try installing the Mac OS now. It will involve a few reboots and take some time. BE PATIENT.
12. When done, you should see the setup menu.

 

[Roxy.music]

Thanks for all that info ,i did not know the differances between Commend R and Option R i thought they were the same thing Anyway i took it to a Apple Repair place i had been to before,they put fresh insral on it ,When i got it home i noticed that there was a section saying it had a container on it.I tried my external drive wuth Windows10 Bootcamp on it,.when i clicked the Bootcamp icon to get back to Mac i have this message*Could not locate Bootcanp volume?It goes straight into Windows ,unless i hold the option key.I was wondering if the new insrall was causing the problem.?If i knew it would be fixed with putting a Bootcamp back up on there i would.