erase iMac with Catalina and install a new OS.

I seek to completely erase my iMac with OS10.15. I followed directions below. I tried to reinstall the OS, selected my Mac HD (it shows 1 TB total,986.11 GB available) and got this message: "The target volume is part of incomplete system and can not be installed into" Can I install a new copy of the OS? How?

1. On your Mac, choose Apple menu > Restart. As your Mac restarts, hold down the Command and R keys until the macOS Utilities window appears.

2. Select Disk Utility, then click Continue.

3. Select your startup disk on the left, then click Erase.

4. Click the Format pop-up menu, choose an APFS or Mac OS Extended format, enter a name, then click Erase.

Important: Erasing the disk removes all the information from the disk. Be sure to back up the information you want to keep to an external device.

5. After the disk is erased, choose Disk Utility > Quit Disk Utility.

6. Select Reinstall macOS, click Continue, then follow the onscreen instructions.

Posted on Dec 9, 2023 5:03 PM

Top-ranking reply

Jack-19

Level 8

46,266 points

Posted on Dec 9, 2023 5:11 PM

Hey there!

Try to quit the macOS installer by choosing Install macOS Catalina (top left) > Quit. Then, choose Disk Utility, and follow these steps:

In Disk Utility, select View > Show All Devices.
Choose the top non-indented disk entry—it’s at the top of the hierarchy.
Choose erase, and make sure these details match:
1. Name: Macintosh HD
2. Format: APFS
3. Scheme: GUID Partition Map
Click Erase, and quit Disk Utility.

Now, try to reinstall macOS again.

-Jack

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erase iMac with Catalina and install a new OS.

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