You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

I attempted to upgrade to Big Sur from Mojave now my Macintosh HD drive is missing and only shows macintosh-data-data-data in disk utility, will not connect to time capsule and if of try reinstall Big Sur loads then says there is a software problem!

Hi,

i Attempted to upgrade to Big Sur from Mojave now the mac will not start, in safe mode in disk utility it no longer shows Macintosh HD only shows Macintosh data-data-data-data-data-data will not connect to time capsule and trying to reinstall Big Sur comes up with software error message every time! also cannot install any earlier OS. Any suggestions?


Thanks

Andy


Mac mini, macOS 11.6

Posted on Oct 17, 2021 4:44 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 17, 2021 5:29 PM

When you reinstalled macOS you keep selecting the incorrect destination volume for the macOS installer. At this point is probably easier to just start completely over with a clean install of macOS by first erasing the whole physical drive before installing macOS. Then on booting into the clean install of macOS you will have an option to restore from a Time Machine backup. You may need to click "View" within Disk Utility and select "Show All Devices" so that the physical drive appears on the left pane of Disk Utility (you need to do this from the macOS installer). Erasing the physical drive will destroy all data on the drive.


While it may be possible to delete all of the extra "Data" volumes it is tricky since the boot volume is most likely one of these "Data" volumes as well. Who know where your data is actually located now. If you want to try this option you can boot the Mac normally and launch Disk Utility. Then click on each "Data" volume and try to delete it by clicking on the "-". You should also delete the old "Macintosh HD" volume (with no "Data" in its name). If you are booted into macOS, then macOS will not allow you to delete the two currently used "Macintosh HD" volumes so you want to delete all of the other "Macintosh HD" volumes that Disk Utility lets you to delete.


In the end you should have just two "Macintosh HD" volumes (perhaps with several "Data"s in them). Leave all of the non-Macintosh HD volumes alone as they are necessary for the normal operation of macOS (VM, Preboot, Update, Recovery). After deleting all of the old "Macintosh HD" volumes you should rename the remaining two volumes. The volume with the least amount of "Data"s in the name probably should be "Macintosh HD", while the other volume should be "Macintosh HD - Data". Keep in mind the volume with just a single "Data" in the name most likely holds the original data (if it wasn't backed up).


FYI, in the future you are supposed to select the "Macintosh HD" volume for the OS installation (the one without "Data" in the name).

Similar questions

8 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 17, 2021 5:29 PM in response to Hengist2

When you reinstalled macOS you keep selecting the incorrect destination volume for the macOS installer. At this point is probably easier to just start completely over with a clean install of macOS by first erasing the whole physical drive before installing macOS. Then on booting into the clean install of macOS you will have an option to restore from a Time Machine backup. You may need to click "View" within Disk Utility and select "Show All Devices" so that the physical drive appears on the left pane of Disk Utility (you need to do this from the macOS installer). Erasing the physical drive will destroy all data on the drive.


While it may be possible to delete all of the extra "Data" volumes it is tricky since the boot volume is most likely one of these "Data" volumes as well. Who know where your data is actually located now. If you want to try this option you can boot the Mac normally and launch Disk Utility. Then click on each "Data" volume and try to delete it by clicking on the "-". You should also delete the old "Macintosh HD" volume (with no "Data" in its name). If you are booted into macOS, then macOS will not allow you to delete the two currently used "Macintosh HD" volumes so you want to delete all of the other "Macintosh HD" volumes that Disk Utility lets you to delete.


In the end you should have just two "Macintosh HD" volumes (perhaps with several "Data"s in them). Leave all of the non-Macintosh HD volumes alone as they are necessary for the normal operation of macOS (VM, Preboot, Update, Recovery). After deleting all of the old "Macintosh HD" volumes you should rename the remaining two volumes. The volume with the least amount of "Data"s in the name probably should be "Macintosh HD", while the other volume should be "Macintosh HD - Data". Keep in mind the volume with just a single "Data" in the name most likely holds the original data (if it wasn't backed up).


FYI, in the future you are supposed to select the "Macintosh HD" volume for the OS installation (the one without "Data" in the name).

Oct 29, 2021 5:52 AM in response to sqpnts

sqpnts wrote:

I am also running Mojave 10.14.6 and want to upgrade to Big Sur. I have software that is compatible up to 11.5.2. Can't seem to find that upgrade option can you help. I will pay attention to install on the Hard drive.

Thanks

You can also get the installer from the link within this Apple article which also includes optional instructions for creating a bootable macOS USB installer:

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


Make sure to have a good backup before attempting to upgrade macOS in case something goes wrong.

Oct 29, 2021 11:45 AM in response to sqpnts

As long as no errors were listed, then the Big Sur installer should be located in the "/Applications" folder. I believe it will be called "Install macOS Big Sur". Just double-click it to run it like any other app.


Just make sure to have a good backup before running the Big Sur installer in case something goes wrong.

I attempted to upgrade to Big Sur from Mojave now my Macintosh HD drive is missing and only shows macintosh-data-data-data in disk utility, will not connect to time capsule and if of try reinstall Big Sur loads then says there is a software problem!

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.