I want to re-install the OS. It's not a machine I use a lot so not worried to keep any files at all, how do I install fresh I have tried deleting files to make space, but actually don't want to waste time cleaning out an installation of the old OS that I do not want to keep anyway. The machine has only got about 50Mb free space and it's become unusable. Is Sonoma smaller? 256Gb disk M1.
I just want to format and install fresh. How do I proceed?
Either boot from the Recovery or make and boot from a bootable macOS installer USB flash drive. Then use their Disk Utility to format the internal volume. Then switch to installer and install Ventura to it.
3rd time is the charm. After 4 attempts I powered off and tried again in the morning when the recovery tool actually did allow me to delete the partitions which it had not let me do the 1st time. I'm now installed and working again, and upgrading to Sonoma 14.0 . Looks like a happy ending at any rate.
If you do not have sufficient space (storage) to install an OS update or upgrade, then sufficient files must be deleted to clear the needed space. You do that by installing an external drive and then copying files over to it, which can then be deleted from your HD. If you have no important files which need to be saved, then you may also use Disk utility to erase and reformat the HD. Then install a new OS. Those are your two options.
I did not know that menu existed at all - well that does kind of help.
"An error occurred when preparing to erase"...
Had to sign in with apple ID on the OS and try the Erase again, seems to have run it's magic this time....
Famous last words. The rebooted but mac is hard wired to internet and is not terribly happy detecting the internet in order to verify the startup disk. Retried, not sure of why network was unappy. But seems to be fine if I let it try and install Ventura.
The installer says :
245.11 Gb Total
230.36 Gb Free
I assume that's 15Gb for the system bootstrap and cache?
Looks to be resuming some good stuff. Hope it works.
Bricked.
It gets down to just 9 minutes to go and says "An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running the application again." After an hour, that's all I get as a clue.
Will try a 3rd time else going to send it back to my IT department and get another. I'm guessing it's a bios problem, but I honestly have no idea, only error implied is in the log says is
"InstallAssistant[273]: OSISClient: Interrupted"
It might be something like that, curious error message though. The mac is not under IT control, I spent a whole 2 weeks getting it set up earlier this year, so a bit sad that I have to do it all again. Installing Java and some of the fiddly modules the app I use wants probably means I'll ask to swap to a machine with a bigger disk to reduce pain.
The arm macs are really nice machines to use. Inflexible, but performant. My IT team will probably solve it quicker than I can.
+1 👍🏽
If it doesn't work, then you're IT department maybe blocking your efforts to erase and reinstall or upgrade the macOS.
Good work!
Cannot install Ventura fresh. Not enough space
