How to format Hard Drive and reinstall Catalina from USB

[royyswifft]

I have a disk that's so full I cannot install Catalina in Recovery mode as there is not enough space. I have a pre-formatted and bootable USB but when I try and install the image to the HD it fails telling me there is not enough space, doh! Could someone please send me a link or the instructions to reformat the internal SSD hard drive and create the necessary partitions so that I have an 'empty' drive on which I can install from USB.

Thanks in advance, and yes I have a time machine backup of the unit!

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

Just open disk utility and wipe the drive:

Use Disk Utility to erase an Intel-based Mac - Apple Support (CA)

How to erase (format) the built-in startup disk of an Intel-based Mac.

support.apple.com

Then proceed with install

 

[royyswifft]

Just open disk utility and wipe the drive:

Use Disk Utility to erase an Intel-based Mac - Apple Support (CA)

How to erase (format) the built-in startup disk of an Intel-based Mac.

support.apple.com

Then proceed with install

Hi and thank you - if I delete the partition / drive like it says - what do I do next to boot from USB? I assume I should boot from USB first of all?

Thanks in advance
R

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

You should do it while booted from the USB.

 

[royyswifft]

@Mr_Brightside_@
I deleted the Macintosh HD - Data partition and then tried to install Catalina back onto it. It's been stuck at "2 mins remaining" for the past 15 minutes.

Any ideas?

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

You actually shouldn't need to reinstall if you deleted - Data. I would leave it for an hour and force it off after that if it doesn't proceed.

About the read-only system volume in macOS Catalina or later - Apple Support (CA)

macOS Catalina or later runs in a read-only system volume, separate from other files on your Mac. When you upgrade to macOS Catalina or later, a second volume is created, and some files may move to a Relocated Items folder.

support.apple.com

 

[royyswifft]

Thanks Mr_Brightside_@ . I reformatted the drive and reinstalled and now I am in the middle of a Time Machine recovery. Cheers you are the best.

 

[HDFan]

I am in the middle of a Time Machine recovery.

Hope that worked. As TM tends to be unreliable, be sure to have a 3-2-1 backup strategy that relies on TM for only one of the backups, unless you want to risk your data.