My startup disk disappeared with the question mark and I cant reinstall mac

Question

My startup disk disappeared with the question mark and I cant reinstall mac

I restarted my iMac because it was really lagging out and I just wanted to reset everything. But once I did, my startup disk disappeared and I got the question mark folder. I went to Recovery mode and it said I had to fix it with Recovery Mode? That kind of confused me so I decided to reinstall Mac, as it wouldn't take to long to download all my applications and more. But I couldn't reinstall mac because there was no disk to install it on. So I'm in the middle of a giant loop and don't know what to do. Can you help me? Thank you!

iMac 21.5″, macOS 11.3

Posted on Jun 10, 2021 12:14 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

rkaufmann87

Level 10

141,430 points

Jun 10, 2021 5:58 PM in response to User_Taken_Not0

Have you considered you may have experienced a hardware failure. If your iMac has an internal HD yours may have failed. At this point it may be wise to take it to Apple Authorized Service Provider in your general area to be professionally diagnosed.

If it is a 21.5" model as your signature indicates there is an excellent chance it is a failed HD.

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Answer 2

rkaufmann87

Level 10

141,430 points

Jun 10, 2021 8:13 PM in response to User_Taken_Not0

Your welcome and good luck. If I am correct, rather than them replacing the HD just take it back and buy yourself and external SSD and you will:

Have much faster computer
Save a some cash

Another option is to simply do nothing and replace it with a new 24" M1 iMac which would be a huge upgrade. You can use the old computer Time Machine External Hard Disk to restore your data to the new machine.

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Answer 3

Jun 10, 2021 5:44 PM in response to Limnos

Hey there! This didn't seem to work, as Macintosh HD doesn't show up in Disk Utility. I'd like to use Apple Discussions before using official apple support. I hope you can help me :). In my internal volumes, I have "AppleAPFSMedia" and "APFS PhysicalStore disk0s2".

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