I accidently erased VOLUME GROUP instead of just the Mac HD- Data, so what do I do?

Hello DrewInPS,

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities! I understand that you accidentally erased Volume Group on your MacBook Pro. I would be happy to help provide steps to take next.

As mentioned in the following resource, erasing a volume will permanently delete all of its files:

How to erase a disk for Mac - Apple Support

In the instance where the Volume Group is erased, you may need to first reinstall macOS, then restore your data from a backup if you had one made:

• How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery - Apple Support
• Restore your Mac from a backup - Apple Support

Let us know if you have questions from here.

Cheers!

I made this mistake too. My MacBook Pro would not install the OS because there was no where to install to.

I finally called Apple who resolved it quickly, no boot drive necessary. Here is what they told me:

• Started up by holding Shift-Option-⌘-R
• Logged on to wi-fi
• From disk utility, in the upper right menu of the dialog box, made sure "View All" is selected
• On my machine, under SSD was a folder called "macos2" or something to that effect
• Selected that folder and erased it (named it Macintosh HD and selected format APFS)
• Went back to Utilities window
• Selected Reinstall macOS from the Utilities window, then was able to reinstall macOS on the volume
• After 45 min, the install stalled at 2 minuets and I got an error message. I ran it again and this time it went all the way through.

Hope that helps. Here are the two articles Apple sent me after that call:

How to erase a disk for Mac

How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery

Jaime Sue wrote:

Yes, the first link you posted is the one with “delete volume group" highlighted. It’s very easy to click that and then read where it says not to click that. Now I cannot install the Mac OS because there is no volume to select to install it to. So what’s needed is how to put the volume back. All I have now is APPLE SSD SM0256G Media and an Apple disk image Media with OS X Base System.

In Disk Utility click on "View" and select "Show all devices". The physical drive should now be shown in the left pane of Disk Utility. Select the physical drive and erase it as GUID partition and APFS (top option). The physical drive will likely be named something like "Apple SSD ....", "Hitachi HD....", or something similar depending on the age of the computer.

misa272 wrote:

I did this too. But not when I go to reinstall Catalina, at 3 minutes remaining, it says, "Could not create a preboot volume for APFS install." Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in Advance.

Make sure to erase the whole physical drive before you reinstall macOS. By erasing the whole drive you are removing all partitions and volumes so the Catalina installer will create everything from scratch which should solve your problem. For more details see my previous post here:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250901864?answerId=251837801022#251837801022

You won't be able to recover any data from the hard drive unless you have an external macOS boot drive. It is possible to install macOS to an external USB drive. First you would need to boot into Recovery Mode, Internet Recovery Mode, or from a bootable macOS USB installer. You will need to erase the whole physical external drive as GUID partition and MacOS Extended (Journaled) before being able to select the external drive as a destination for the macOS install.

Once you install macOS to an external drive you will be able to boot from the external drive and use an app such as Data Rescue. Most data recovery apps provide a free demo so you can see what data the app is able to locate, but you will need to pay for the app in order to recover the data. The only free data recovery utility I am aware of is PhotoRec.

You are going to need a 350GB+ external drive in order to store the recovered photos.

cmethi wrote:

Hmm . That’s a sad state I am in . Will it give me good hope if I say I don’t have an ssd, but an HD . And can I do it at home after I buy a software ? And what’s the process now , such that I don’t over write and delete my HD ?

It should be possible to recover data from a hard drive.

plus , can you explain what aise external Mac OS drive ?? Plus if I need to erase the whole external drive , so which external drive are we talking about ? And since the whole globe is in lockdown , can I do it at home ??

You will need to use at least one external USB or Thunderbolt drive so you can install macOS to the external drive and to store the data. It needs to be large enough to contain macOS and all your photos.

I've provided the basic instructions. See these Apple articles on how to properly erase a hard drive and how to install macOS. You need to modify the instructions slightly by making sure to choose your external drive.

How to erase physical drive (includes screenshots):

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208496#scheme

How to install macOS:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

austinswain wrote:

my dialogue box doesn’t have a “view all” option 😭

If you are booted from a macOS 10.12 or earlier installer, then Disk Utility defaults to a Device view. The physical drive should appear in the left pane as something like "Apple HDD ...", "ST500.....", "Hitachi ....", etc. Here is a screenshot of Disk Utility from macOS 10.12 Sierra where I have the physical drive highlighted in the left pane. The physical drive is identified as "Crucial_CT525...".

Yes, the first link you posted is the one with “delete volume group" highlighted. It’s very easy to click that and then read where it says not to click that. Now I cannot install the Mac OS because there is no volume to select to install it to. So what’s needed is how to put the volume back. All I have now is APPLE SSD SM0256G Media and an Apple disk image Media with OS X Base System.

Yeah, I fumbled through it. I had to delete the _data volume, delete the contents of the Macintosh hard drive, leave the options at default settings (the options on the online articles don't match what I was seeing) and restart a time or two. I really wanted to use Catalina but there doesn't seem to be a way if I want to keep it ready for a new user to do the initial setup. It either makes a redundant _data volume or complains that it's not a complete drive if you remove the data volume.

I made the same mistake of deleting the volume group. I had installed macOS 10.15.3 on being prompted and all went well until it had to restart after installation, which is when it refuses to boot saying I was low on space. Silly me thought maybe I could delete some data and ended up deleting volume group on Macintosh HD Data. Now I have AppleAPFSMedia with Macintosh HD, Preeboot, Recovery and VM under it and Apple SSD SM0128G Media on the sidebar. I tried to erase the SSD Media (no APFS in the format options, so I chose Mac OS Extended Journaled) with GUID Partition Map but it says erase process has failed. Did someone face the same problem or does someone have any suggestions?

ManabJK wrote:

I tried to erase the SSD Media (no APFS in the format options, so I chose Mac OS Extended Journaled) with GUID Partition Map but it says erase process has failed. Did someone face the same problem or does someone have any suggestions?

Make sure to select the physical drive when erasing it in Disk Utility. If the physical drive is not visible, then click on "View" within Disk Utility and select "Show All Devices" so that the physical drive appears in the left pane of Disk Utility.

I deleted the volume group . And now my whole day ais gone . Ofcourse my Mac is showing one HD with choose a network option and sometimes a suitcase with a question mark . I want to retrieve my picture , I don’t have a back up for that . Possible ?? Thanks in advance

cmethi wrote:

I deleted the volume group . And now my whole day ais gone . Ofcourse my Mac is showing one HD with choose a network option and sometimes a suitcase with a question mark . I want to retrieve my picture , I don’t have a back up for that . Possible ?? Thanks in advance

If your computer has an SSD, then it is unlikely you can recover anything from the drive. You can try contacting a professional data recovery service such as Drive Savers or Ontrack. Both vendors provide free estimates and both are recommended by Apple.

If your laptop uses a hard drive, then you may be able to recover the items, but you will need an external macOS boot drive and some data recovery software such as Data Rescue. You should seriously consider using a professional data recover service.

You should definitely start backing up your computer(s) regularly.

I have a Mac 21 inch with an HD drive . Since I deleted the volume group , so I don’t know what to do next . Shall I put it on Internet recovery , will I get my data still ? Can you help me with the software . My main thing is the photos about 300 gb of photos . Are the software’s free ? Can you suggest me a step by step procedure ?

TimeMachine is designed to run all day in the background even during heavy activity with little impact on your work. If a file is busy during one attempt to backup, it will eventually be available for backup.