not enough space to reinstall MacOS Catalina -- already erased my HD.

Question

not enough space to reinstall MacOS Catalina -- already erased my HD.

I am attempting to wipe clean my 2018 MacBook Air. I restarted it, holding Command+R, then went to Disk Utility, and erased the HD, and reformatted it using APFS. Now, when I try and re-install Catalina, which the computer was using before, it says there's not enough space to do so. I need an additional 2.22 GB. Any ideas?

Posted on Nov 27, 2023 8:10 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 27, 2023 8:28 AM in response to Thomas Thrasher

Hi Thomas,

Try these steps to completely erase your MacBook Air and reinstall macOS:

Hold Command-R while you power on or restart your Intel-based Mac. This boots into macOS Recovery.
If you're asked for an administrator password, skip to step 5.
The macOS Utilities window should appear. At the top of the screen, choose Utilities -> Terminal.
In Terminal, type "resetpassword" without the quotes and hit Enter (Return).
The Recovery Assistant app will appear. At the top of the screen, choose Recovery Assistant -> Erase Mac.
Follow the onscreen instructions to erase your Mac.
Your Mac will start up from macOS Recovery over the Internet. Select a Wi-Fi network if prompted.
In Recovery, your Mac will need to activate. Connect to a Wi-Fi network and let your Mac complete the activation process. Provide the Apple ID & password that was previously used if prompted.
If successful, the macOS Utilities window should appear again. Choose "Install macOS" and follow the onscreen instructions.

NOTE: Your Mac will likely get upgraded to macOS Sonoma as part of this process, since Internet Recovery will serve you the latest macOS by default.

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