Disk Utility can't load disks in Recovery Mode

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Level 1

4 points

Disk Utility can't load disks in Recovery Mode

Trying to wipe an old Macbook - late 2013, 15 inch, Intel chip. I start it in Recovery Mode, then go to launch Disk Utility. There, it just hangs - the spinner spins around happily, but the disks never load, even after an hour.

I've tried resetting the NVRAM and the SMC in different order, and tried using the Internet Recovery mode. All with no change in status. I also tried to just reinstall the OS to see if that might help, and that just hung as well. Tried booting into Safe Mode, but the computer just shuts down when the progress bar is halfway across the screen each time. So now I'm kinda at a loss.

Thanks in advance for any help!

MacBook Pro Retina

Posted on Jan 6, 2019 12:57 PM

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Answer 1

dwb

Level 7

33,244 points

Jan 6, 2019 2:27 PM in response to jgdc3

There are two recovery modes: Recovery Partition and Internet Recovery. You can tell you are booting into Internet recovery because during the boot process you’ll see a globe on the screen and under the globe it will say Internet recovery. Booting into the Recovery partition you see the standard Apple logo. The difference is important.

If you booted into the Recovery Partition but Disk Utility couldn’t mount the drive that would tend to indicate the drive partition is damaged. That being the case, boot into Internet Recovery (Command + Option + R) and after launching Disk Utility try repairing the drive. (Or if you have a recent backup it might be easier to just delete the partitions and restore with your backup.)

If you had booted into Internet Recovery and couldn’t mount the drive that could mean the drive itself is damaged and you’ll probably need to make an appointment at the Apple Store.

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Disk Utility can't load disks in Recovery Mode

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