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User profile for user: jrdn123
jrdn123 Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Big Sur failed, trying to recover my data

So I've connected by computer in target mode to another Mac (which is running Catalina). I can see Macintosh HD - Data but when I click on it, there's no files. I can see on Info however that there's still 120GB or so of data. When I try to unhide files, I see .fseventsd, .Spotlight-V100, and .Trashes.


Any idea how I can access what looks to be my data still in this folder?


I have done disk utility on my computer after Big Sur failed and there didn't seem to be any repairs necessary.


My previous operating system was Mojave, if that makes a difference. Thanks !

MacBook Air 11″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Feb 4, 2022 7:11 AM

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User profile for user: jrdn123
jrdn123 Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Posted on Feb 6, 2022 11:48 PM

Indeed, was running Mojave and then tried to update to Big Sur... nothing seemed to work, not a long chat with an Apple tech x2 and not a Thunderbolt cable. I could not see the files inside of my HD-Data partition. I could see the partition, just not the files. Finally I deleted the contents of the HD (not the HD-Data), which apparently cleared up enough space for me to run Big Sur.


That's to say, I couldn't run Big Sur because there was not enough space on my disk, so I deleted the data on the HD to run the software and could then access the data after the new software was installed.

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User profile for user: jrdn123
jrdn123 Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Feb 6, 2022 11:48 PM in response to HWTech

Indeed, was running Mojave and then tried to update to Big Sur... nothing seemed to work, not a long chat with an Apple tech x2 and not a Thunderbolt cable. I could not see the files inside of my HD-Data partition. I could see the partition, just not the files. Finally I deleted the contents of the HD (not the HD-Data), which apparently cleared up enough space for me to run Big Sur.


That's to say, I couldn't run Big Sur because there was not enough space on my disk, so I deleted the data on the HD to run the software and could then access the data after the new software was installed.

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User profile for user: HWTech
HWTech
User level: Level 9
60,608 points

Feb 6, 2022 12:50 PM in response to jrdn123

Just to confirm....You were running Mojave on this Mac and upgraded to Big Sur which failed? The failure may have occurred before the Big Sur installer had a chance to move the "Users" folder to the new "Data" volume. If this is the case, then the data may actually still be on the root "Macintosh HD" volume.


FYI, you should always have frequent and regular backups of your computer and any external media which contains important & unique data.

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Big Sur failed, trying to recover my data

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