Upgrade causing big problems! Help!

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Level 1

4 points

Upgrade causing big problems! Help!

Hi everyone,

Today I tried to update my MacBook Air (2014) which was operating on High Sierra to Big Sur.

The upgrade got stuck, so I did a safe reboot (holding down shift key when powering up) and my Mac turned on and had the new updated system. BUT...

I then noticed couldnt turn up the key brightness, so I restarted my Mac. Then, the loading bar appeared and got stuck at same point where it had gotten stuck during the upgrade.

I then powered down my Mac and safe booted it up again, which worked.

Worst part of all - I then realised that literally everything I had on my Mac had been deleted. No sign of any document, application or photo left. I’m assuming there’s no way I can get any of this back. Luckily I had backed up my photos recently and didn’t really need any of the documents (as far as I can remember). However under ‘storage’ it still says I’ve used 180gb of storage, even though there is nothing left on my Mac.

Aside from everything being deleted, my biggest problem is that my Mac will not turn on normally. I can only get it to turn on using a safe reboot. If I try to reboot normally, the loading bar appears and just gets stuck in the same spot every time.

If anyone has any advice that would be greatly appreciated!!

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.5

Posted on Jan 29, 2022 5:07 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Amagnifi Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 30, 2022 12:08 AM in response to PRP_53

Hi there,

Thank you so much for your detailed reply! I will go and have a look, but as I mentioned when I updated my computer, it seemingly deleted everything on it. So there are no applications installed (apart from the ones that come with the Mac) whatsoever.

In terms of storage, I had at least 50gb left of space before I downloaded the upgrade, which was only about 12gb I believe.

Does this make you think that the problem might be something else altogether?

thanks again!

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Answer 2

PRP_53

Level 10

91,177 points

Jan 29, 2022 6:38 AM in response to Amagnifi

Since the computer will boot into Safe Mode and function - it would appear to be two possible causes ;

1 - Some Third Party Software installed on this computer is stopping the computer to boot normally

2 - The Internal Drive does not have Enough Empty Space to load the Operating System and all Third Party Software that is set to

load at Startup.

Possible solution is to Boot in Safe Mode again and verify if any of the following software was installed >>

Are there any AntiVirus, Disk Cleaner, Optimizers, Un-installers, etc installed which should be removed as per Developers Instructions. They are useless, unneeded, cause havoc and interfere with the normal operation of the OS and may even Corrupt the OS requiring a Reinstallation. The The Built in Security is all that is required.

As for Empty Space >>

What is “Other” storage on a Mac, and how can I clean it out?

Free up storage space on your Mac

OmniDiskSweeper Safe to use

GrandPerspective

How to delete Time Machine snapshots on your Mac

See used and available storage space on your Mac

The final word from Apple on Managing the " Other " Category

Other: Contains files that don’t fall into the categories listed here. This category primarily includes files and data used by the system, such as log files, caches, VM files, and other runtime system resources. Also included are temporary files, fonts, app support files, and plug-ins. You can't manage the contents of this category. The contents are managed by macOS, and the category varies in size depending on the current state of your Mac.

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Answer 3

PRP_53

Level 10

91,177 points

Jan 30, 2022 2:17 AM in response to Amagnifi

Amagnifi wrote:

Hi there,

Thank you so much for your detailed reply! I will go and have a look, but as I mentioned when I updated my computer, it seemingly deleted everything on it. So there are no applications installed (apart from the ones that come with the Mac) whatsoever.

In terms of storage, I had at least 50gb left of space before I downloaded the upgrade, which was only about 12gb I believe.

Does this make you think that the problem might be something else altogether?

thanks again!

Firstly the wordage update implies there was an update to an existing installation of Big Sur.

Like Big Sur 11.5.2 to Big Sur 11.6.3

An upGrade is moving from an older version of OS X or macOS to Big Sur.

That needs to be clarified before anything more will make any sense.

So from what previous version of macOS was this computer upGraded from ?

If this computer was running an older version of macOS that Supported 32 Bit Applications ( Mojave was the last to support 32 Bit Applications ) than the disappearing application, if 32 bit - would not have survived the upgrade to Big Sur.

Starting in Catalina macOS 10.15 and continuing in Big Sur macOS 11 and also Monterey macOS 12 - these versions of macOS Only Support 64 Bit anything and there is no workaround.

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