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27” iMac 2013 recovery mode

Just prior to getting pasting to Catalina, my Mac was sloooow as (I suspected maybe hardware / drive problem) it was recommended that maybe my OS was outdated so I updated. After a restart it took ages to update photos and then, stuck in recovery mode... and get this now

tried lots of online suggestions;

each of the above (except restore from time machine because backup too old) and also, many on Apple community. Any ideas please? If I erase can I still get a geek to recover my files.


Posted on Apr 13, 2020 6:27 AM

Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 13, 2020 7:27 AM

emptyvessel wrote:

except restore from time machine because backup too old


If the drive has failed without a current backup, then you may have already lost everything.


Any ideas please?


Click Continue on Disk Utility, select the Macintosh HD, select the First Aid tab and click Run.

If you can not Run First Aid or see your Drive, please post a screen shot of what you see.


If First Aid completes, quit Disk Utility, select Reinstall macOS and Reinstall the macOS.

If you can not reinstall macOS, please post a screen shot of what you see.


If you succeed in reinstall macOX, then you should be good to go.

If not, then you should stop and seek service ASAP.


If I erase can I still get a geek to recover my files.


No erasing or reformatting the drive, will only make it harder or impossible for anyone to recover any data from the drive.

Similar questions

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 13, 2020 7:27 AM in response to Community User

emptyvessel wrote:

except restore from time machine because backup too old


If the drive has failed without a current backup, then you may have already lost everything.


Any ideas please?


Click Continue on Disk Utility, select the Macintosh HD, select the First Aid tab and click Run.

If you can not Run First Aid or see your Drive, please post a screen shot of what you see.


If First Aid completes, quit Disk Utility, select Reinstall macOS and Reinstall the macOS.

If you can not reinstall macOS, please post a screen shot of what you see.


If you succeed in reinstall macOX, then you should be good to go.

If not, then you should stop and seek service ASAP.


If I erase can I still get a geek to recover my files.


No erasing or reformatting the drive, will only make it harder or impossible for anyone to recover any data from the drive.

27” iMac 2013 recovery mode

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