Select the disk where you want to install OS X. Theres no disks

iPhone 14 Plus

Posted on Jun 11, 2024 5:50 PM

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2 replies

Jun 11, 2024 6:55 PM in response to Eliash1122

It would help to know the exact model of your Mac and the last OS you were using on it. Plus why you are trying to reinstall macOS 10.11 El Capitan.


You can get the exact model of your Mac by entering the system serial number on the check coverage page here:

Check Your Service and Support Coverage - Apple Support


Possible reasons:

  • The internal drive has become corrupted
  • The internal drive has failed
  • The internal drive was using macOS 10.13+ and the APFS file system which an older OS like El Capitan does not recognize. You can try booting into Internet Recovery Mode using Command + Option + R to attempt to access a later version of the macOS online installer if your Mac was running a later version of macOS.


Here is an Apple article for troubleshooting various startup issues:

If your Mac doesn't start up all the way - Apple Support


You can try running the Apple Diagnostics to see if any hardware issues are detected. Unfortunately the diagnostics rarely detect problems even when they are known to exist & confirmed by other means.


Jun 11, 2024 7:24 PM in response to HWTech

if you invoke Disk Utility EARLY in the process, BEFORE you commit to installing, you can look around and see what devices are present.


MacOS Base System of size about 2 GB is the stripped-down Recovery MacOS, which can only run one function such as Disk Utility or Installer at a time. MacOS Base System of size about 8GB is the incoming installer and it helper macOS. neither of those can be installed upon.


If no other Devices are is showing, your boot drive has died.

If no Volumes are showing, they may be wrong format as HWTech pointed out, but can be re-Erased and used.

If your version has the tiny View pop-up menu, be sure to choose 'show all devices'.



Select the disk where you want to install OS X. Theres no disks

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