Reinstalling OS after disk erase - disk locked

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Level 1

4 points

Reinstalling OS after disk erase - disk locked

I erased the hard drive on my intel iMac and when I follow the internet recovery process to reinstalling the OS - in this case it’s offering me high sierra - the HD is locked and I can’t go any further. I’m a gumby and I wonder if during the erasure process I should have reinstalled the OS without exiting, after the erase was complete . Can’t remember for sure but I think I quit entirely out of there. When I restart, command-R doesn’t work, it takes me straight to internet recovery, not to recovery mode. No deal trying to reinstall the OS from time machine either, I get an error message about compatibility.

The machine is a 2017 model and was running big sur. It was refusing to update either to later big sur, or to monterey, and I erased because an OS reinstall attempt from recovery mode also failed.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Please note I have admitted stupidity above so don’t need posts to that effect.

Cheers!

Posted on Sep 25, 2022 8:47 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

HWTech

Level 9

59,948 points

Sep 27, 2022 6:17 PM in response to mylomcc

It appears you have a split Fusion Drive. To fix a split Fusion Drive will destroy all data on both the SSD and hard drive, plus it will require you to reinstall macOS followed by restoring/migrating from a backup.

How to fix a split Fusion Drive - Apple Support

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Answer 2

den.thed

Level 10

81,640 points

Sep 26, 2022 7:25 AM in response to mylomcc

Start over following > Use Disk Utility to erase an Intel-based Mac - Apple Support

then reinstall the offered macOS > How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support

If you do not see your Macintosh HD in Disk Utility or can not install the offered macOS version

then you need to contact Apple Support or make an appointment at your local AASP

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Answer 3

mylomcc Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 26, 2022 8:44 PM in response to den.thed

Thanks! I had a go at that, but it hung up on the “erasing macintosh hd” screen as below. I tried running first aid but it reported that it couldn’t unmount the volume for repair. The original erase was really fast, but I was still stuck on the message below after about an hour. This all seems a bit suspect to me, any thoughts?

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