Can't see my hard drive only disk0 and OS X Base System. Yosemite

Dumb me trying to restore a MacBook for the very first time I decided to erase the drives, so now I am left with disk0 and Base OS X System. Trying to install Yosemite to be exact.

Posted on Feb 20, 2020 7:02 PM

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Posted on Feb 20, 2020 9:07 PM

How did you get to this "restore mode?" Do you know what version of OS X was installed before you erased the drive? I suppose you could try doing a network recovery:


Internet/Network Recovery of El Capitan or Later on a Clean Disk


     If possible back up your files before proceeding.


  1. Restart the computer. Immediately, at or before the chime, hold down the (Command-Option-Shift-R) keys until a globe appears.
  2. The Utility Menu will appear in from 5-20 minutes. Be patient.
  3. Select Disk Utility and click on the Continue button.
  4. When Disk Utility loads select the target drive (out-dented entry w/type and size) from the side list.
  5. Click on the Erase button in Disk Utility's toolbar. A panel will drop down.
  6. Set the partition scheme to GUID.
  7. Set the Format type to APFS (SSDs, only if installing Mojave or Catalina ) or Mac OS Extended, (Journaled.)
  8. Click on the Apply button, then click on the Done button when it activates.
  9. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.
  10. Select Install OS X and click on the Continue button.


This should install the original version of macOS installed at the factory. If you plan to exchange it, then once the OS is installed, quit the installer. Do not start the Setup Assistant.


If the above cannot be accomplished because there is no disk, then the disk is dead.

5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 20, 2020 9:07 PM in response to PeterER86

How did you get to this "restore mode?" Do you know what version of OS X was installed before you erased the drive? I suppose you could try doing a network recovery:


Internet/Network Recovery of El Capitan or Later on a Clean Disk


     If possible back up your files before proceeding.


  1. Restart the computer. Immediately, at or before the chime, hold down the (Command-Option-Shift-R) keys until a globe appears.
  2. The Utility Menu will appear in from 5-20 minutes. Be patient.
  3. Select Disk Utility and click on the Continue button.
  4. When Disk Utility loads select the target drive (out-dented entry w/type and size) from the side list.
  5. Click on the Erase button in Disk Utility's toolbar. A panel will drop down.
  6. Set the partition scheme to GUID.
  7. Set the Format type to APFS (SSDs, only if installing Mojave or Catalina ) or Mac OS Extended, (Journaled.)
  8. Click on the Apply button, then click on the Done button when it activates.
  9. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.
  10. Select Install OS X and click on the Continue button.


This should install the original version of macOS installed at the factory. If you plan to exchange it, then once the OS is installed, quit the installer. Do not start the Setup Assistant.


If the above cannot be accomplished because there is no disk, then the disk is dead.

Feb 20, 2020 9:46 PM in response to PeterER86

If the laptop is using a third party SSD, then you need to be booting from macOS 10.13+ since the older versions of macOS do not have the necessary drivers for an NVMe SSD.


Edit: Try booting into Internet Recovery Mode using Command + Option + R to access the macOS 10.15 Catalina installer. Or create a macOS 10.13+ USB installer:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

Feb 20, 2020 8:43 PM in response to PeterER86

A good guess is the HDD has died. Do you have an external drive from which you can boot the computer? How did you erase the drive? Do you have a Software Restore DVD that came with the computer when it was new? If so, boot from the DVD and use Disk Utility to verify there is a disk. If there is, then format it before trying to install OS X.

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Can't see my hard drive only disk0 and OS X Base System. Yosemite

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