I have 2013 macbook air. From mojave i decided to update to Big Sur. Along the updates, the device got stuck twice and I went into recovery. I tried Disk Utility, under first aid tried both (one after each reboot), its still goes back to the question mark folder. Nothing to mount back as I dont have any back up. I wish to reinstall IOS however no disc was found. Help!
MacBook Air 11″, macOS 10.14
From your second screenshot I can see that your Disk is not formatted correctly.
If you were running macOS Mojave previously your mac would have been formatted
as APFS. Now that is trying to install Mac OS X Mavericks the Disk needs to be reformatted
as Mac OS X Extended (Journaled).
Boot to your Recovery HD.
Open Disk Utility.
Highlight the Disk Apple SSD TS.... click Erase.
Give the Disk a name.
Format: Mac OS X Extended (Journaled).
Scheme: GUID Partition Map.
Click Erase.
When Done quit Disk Utility.
Click on Reinstall OS X press Continue.
The installation should start up follow the prompts,
are you able to select the destination for the install now.
From your second screenshot I can see that your Disk is not formatted correctly.
If you were running macOS Mojave previously your mac would have been formatted
as APFS. Now that is trying to install Mac OS X Mavericks the Disk needs to be reformatted
as Mac OS X Extended (Journaled).
Boot to your Recovery HD.
Open Disk Utility.
Highlight the Disk Apple SSD TS.... click Erase.
Give the Disk a name.
Format: Mac OS X Extended (Journaled).
Scheme: GUID Partition Map.
Click Erase.
When Done quit Disk Utility.
Click on Reinstall OS X press Continue.
The installation should start up follow the prompts,
are you able to select the destination for the install now.
Yes if your mac fits the criteria for the upgrades.
Earlier you said your mac was running macOS Mojave 10.14.6, then it can run macOS Catalina10.15.7.
macOS Big Sur is compatible with the following computers.
MacBook introduced in 2015 or later
MacBook Air introduced in 2013 or later
MacBook Pro introduced in late 2013 or later
Mac mini introduced in 2014 or later
iMac introduced in 2014 or later
iMac Pro
Mac Pro introduced in 2013 or later
View the complete list of compatible computers.
If upgrading from macOS Sierra or later, your Mac needs 35.5GB of available storage to upgrade. If upgrading from an earlier release, your Mac needs up to 44.5GB of available storage. To upgrade from OS X Mountain Lion, first upgrade to OS X El Capitan, then upgrade to macOS Big Sur.
Before upgrading to macOS Catalina or macOS Big Sur I would upgrade your mac
to macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 first.
For High Sierra, Mojave or Catalina,
Open Safari and click on this link,
How to get old versions of macOS – Apple Support
Go to the Download OS section and click on the OS you want to install.
Before upgrading make a full back up of your Mac.
Check that third party apps you use have updates available for the new OS.
Check that your printers/ scanners etc have updated drivers and software available for the new OS.
Connect your mac to your router via cable rather than rely on WiFi.
Do not use your mac while it is downloading
and do not use any other devices that share the same internet connection.
If the App Store says ‘Open’ then it is detecting a previous download of the install app
go to the Applications folder locate Install macOS ******.app.
Move it to the Trash, empty the Trash.
Restart, click on the link again, the App Store should say ‘Get' or 'Download'.
If you want to or are able to install Big Sur, open Safari and click on the link below.
How to upgrade to macOS Big Sur - Apple Support
If you are considering upgrading to Catalina or Big Sur be warned they do not support 32bit apps.
Your Mac is probably running 32bit apps and these will need to be updated to 64bit apps,
some updates may be free, some may be paid. Use this free app to discover which apps you have
are 32bit, https://www.stclairsoft.com/Go64/ then contact the developers of the software to see
if they are offering 64bit updates.
That was super awesome. It worked! Do you think I can still update to Big Sur or Catalina at least?
Macbook Air 2013 update unsuccessful (from mojave to big sur). I erased and unable to reinstall OS.
