Will erasing Macintosh HD delete all my files?

Question

Will erasing Macintosh HD delete all my files?

My charger failed and my computer died while updating. It was stuck in the loop of letting me log in then turning off again and showing the “computer shut down because of an error” message. I went through the steps of holding command and r and got the disk utility page but the next step is to ”erase Macintosh HD” (format Mac OS Extended (Journaled)). I’m assuming this will delete all my files. Is there any way around this?? I really need the files on my computer.

Posted on Mar 11, 2018 10:17 AM

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Answer 1

y_p_w

Level 6

17,642 points

Mar 11, 2018 4:26 PM in response to elisefromclarkston

What specific computer? If it’s an older MacBook Pro with a SATA drive it’s possible to simply replace the drive and then start over with a clean install with that new drive. Then the old drive can be saved to try and recover the old data.

Depending on the “damage” to the drive it might be possible for a data recovery program to recover the data. Sometimes the best solution is to pay a professional to perform the recovery, although it can be expensive.

It's easy to recover by simply wiping a hard drive, but for many users the cost of a new drive is less than the value of the original data.

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Answer 2

Mar 11, 2018 10:18 AM in response to elisefromclarkston

Yes it will.

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Answer 3

Mar 11, 2018 2:22 PM in response to elisefromclarkston

This is the reason it is always advised to create a backup before updating. Yes your data will be erased.

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Will erasing Macintosh HD delete all my files?

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