How to recover files after macOS Sequoia 15.6.1 upgrade?

Question

Level 1

4 points

How to recover files after macOS Sequoia 15.6.1 upgrade?

Hi everybody,

since I wasn’t using it anymore and I am about to sell it, I initialized my Mac Mini i5, and in the meantime, I updated my MacBook M3 (which I've been working on for months after migrating the old one) to Sequoia 15.6.1. Then I turned it off to leave (I am travelling for a few days), and when I turned it back on... all the files were gone! Moreover, there’s nothing on iCloud; I only found files from the old Mac Mini – yet until the update, I had the option to automatically upload everything I saved on the desktop.

On Find My Mac, the Mac Mini doesn't show up because I had logged out of everything, and the MacBook isn't showing as initialized.

I won’t even describe the frustration. Can anyone help me? Does anyone know what might have happened and how I can recover my files?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Files are gone after upgrading to Sequoia 15.6.1... and initializing another Mac

MacBook Air 13″

Posted on Aug 22, 2025 11:09 PM

Reply

Answer 1

WheelieNick

Level 8

46,401 points

Aug 23, 2025 1:05 AM in response to iacoyeah

Do you have a time machine backup? If so, this is the time to use that and put that back on your MacBook

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Answer 2

MrHoffman

Level 10

154,675 points

Aug 23, 2025 3:39 PM in response to cbrod2021

cbrod2021 wrote:

Hi, just wondering if you came across a fix for this. I lost all my production files for a documentary series I am producing. A years work gone.

No backups?

You can check with a data recovery provider, but recovery is very far from certain, and will likely be costly.

(Backups are the only way to mark data as being valuable. Most of us learn this lesson the hard way too, unfortunately; by losing our data.)

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Answer 3

iacoyeah Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 23, 2025 2:06 AM in response to WheelieNick

Thank you Nick, no I don't. And I'm a Mac user since my first iBook back in '99, but you never stop learning.

But in the first place, I don't really understand what happened.

Anyhow, any other way?

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Answer 4

Aug 23, 2025 1:08 PM in response to iacoyeah

Hi, just wondering if you came across a fix for this. I lost all my production files for a documentary series I am producing. A years work gone.

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Answer 5

iacoyeah Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 24, 2025 12:54 AM in response to cbrod2021

Not yet. I know the feeling, all I worked on since the end of February :(

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Answer 6

iacoyeah Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 24, 2025 12:58 AM in response to MrHoffman

Thank you MrHoffman, I may try that. No backups of the last months, no, and yes, I learned the lesson.

But do you actually know — or can you actually suppose — what might have happened?

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