Can't reinstall macOS after erasing Mac Fusion Drive

I intended to return an older Mac to Apple. I'm attempting to reinstall Catalina after wiping the HDD clean. Using Disk Utility, I have completed this multiple times. Although it looks like the process went well, there is now a second hard drive when I go through the setup and check About this Mac>Storage. It appears that the first machine had a Macintosh HD and a Macintosh HD - Data. A Macintosh HD-Data-data was added inexplicably. Since then, I've attempted to erase and remove every volume that appears in Disk Utility, but because Catalina cannot add a Pre-boot volume, I am unable to install it on AFPS.

Best Answered by

Amanda Wong

Answered on Monday, April 29, 2024

Some mistakes during the reinstalling process caused the Macintosh HD-Data-data volume to appear in Disk Utility, this should be the data volume, and the system volume doesn't display there. You can't reinstall macOS on a damaged system volume.

Other Volumes in Container include the Preboot, Recovery, and Virtual memory volumes that your macOS needs to function properly. As you have deleted the all volumes, you can't install Catalina on AFPS since it is unable to add a Pre-boot volume.

To fix this error, you may need to recreate the Fusion Drive and reinstall macOS.