monterey failed and now not enough hard drive space to do a re-install

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jaslee2 Author

Level 1

4 points

monterey failed and now not enough hard drive space to do a re-install

I tried to upgrade to Montrey from Mojave

MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2019, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports) - Technical Specifications

1.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz, with 128MB of eDRAM

Configurable to 1.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.5GHz, with 128MB of eDRAM

it failed at 19 minutes remaining

I rebooted and same thing after I sign in it fails at 19 minutes
I forgot to backup data
I need folders and files from hard drive /desktop folder so need to back it up
I tried to re-install from recovery but now tells me not enough storage.

How do I backup data before I Loose it now ( only have recovery mode available)

Can I recover and complete the Monterey install without erasing the hard drive?

Posted on Feb 16, 2022 7:32 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

PRP_53

Level 10

90,997 points

Feb 16, 2022 7:46 AM in response to jaslee2

Suggest restarting in Safe Mode. This will perform a Disk Repair, clear cache files and only load Apple Software, extensions and fonts. The boot up will be slow and can take some time -Normal.

This may or may not allow the upgrade process to complete.

If still not booting up at all - may have to use Transfer files between two Mac computers using target disk mode to transfer the important files off the drive.

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Answer 2

Ronasara

Level 6

14,971 points

Feb 16, 2022 10:46 AM in response to jaslee2

In addition, I offer the following. You may have an issue of not enough disk space to do another download because the old upgrade file still resides on your disk and is taking up a lot of space. if so, move it to the Trash and empty it. I have another comment. If the Monterey upgrade failed to install, it was likely corrupted during the download. Did you use Wi-Fi? It's too slow for these very large files and will often fail. Instead, use a wired Ethernet connection for this download and it should go ok.

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Answer 3

jaslee2 Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 17, 2022 7:07 AM in response to Ronasara

Ok we tried the safe mode - so same thing occurred - it stopped at 19 minutes. I agree that reason most likely ran out of space during re-install occurred . But how do I clear the old install app or files off the hard drive now - or how can I get the desktop folders onto an external device now that we are in this loop/. If not for those critical files on the desktop I would erase the hard drive then do a Monterey install. ( please details on how to clear install folders or copy files from desktop to external device)

Thank you

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Answer 4

lllaass

Level 10

210,453 points

Feb 17, 2022 7:51 AM in response to jaslee2

Get an external drive. Boot to Recovery and install on the external disk the macOS version offered in Recovery. Then boot from that disk and access the internal drive to move files/folders to the external disk to the external drive,. After completing the move download the Monterey Installer and try installing on the internal disk

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