Does Reinstalling macOS in Recovery Mode Delete Everything on Mac

macOS Recovery helps you easily reinstall the Mac operating system on your built-in drive or an external drive. This blog answers 'Does reinstalling macOS delete files?' Besides, it also suggests using EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac to recover lost and deleted files.

Table of Contents

This page illustrates the detailed process of recovering data from a failed Mac computer before you reinstall the macOS. If you are having the same issue, follow through this page to see how to get data out of the failed Mac computer before macOS reinstallation:

Workable Solutions Step-by-step Troubleshooting
Phrase 1. Create Bootable USB Run EaseUS Mac data recovery software on another Mac computer > Create bootable USB...Full steps
Phrase 2. Recover Mac Data Connect bootable USB to failed Mac > Boot computer from USB > recover data...Full steps

macOS Reinstallation Deletes Everything. What Can I Do

"My macOS Catalina got corrupted, and the login screen doesn't appear. If I reinstall macOS from the recovery menu, will my previously installed software and data be deleted? And if so, how can I back them up on a hard drive? The data and the software are very important to me."

Reinstalling macOS of macOS Recovery can help you replace the current problematic OS with a clean version quickly and easily. Technically speaking, simply reinstalling macOS won't erase your disk or delete files. You probably don't need to erase unless you're selling or giving away your Mac or having an issue that requires you to wipe. Besides, If you suspect there's something wrong with your startup drive, you can use the Disk Utility to scan and repair them from the recovery screen, which might be a quicker and more convenient alternative than erasing and reinstalling your macOS.

macOS recovery mode

How to Recover Data When Mac Needs to Be Erased and Reinstall macOS

If you're encountering the same issue as said at the beginning of the article, your computer gets corrupted, and you have to consider a complete restart in Recovery Mode. At this time, you need to use the Disk Utility in macOS Recovery to erase your Mac hard drive first and go on to reinstall the macOS.

As well all know, erasing the hard disk on Mac will inevitably cause data loss and make the files unrecoverable. How to recover data in the easiest way when Mac failed to start? Don't worry. Here comes the EaseUS Mac data recovery software, which enables you to create a bootable USB drive on another Mac that works well, then restart your Mac from it, and go ahead to recover files. Especially to restore data on the system drive under macOS 10.13, it's very safe to recover from bootable media. Useful for any emergency, no secondary data damage!

Now, follow the step-by-step guides below to see how to recover data from Mac that fail to start and needs to erase and reinstalled OS. The tutorial will be divided into two parts: how to create a USB bootable media and recover data from bootable media.  

How to Create a USB Bootable Media

Step 1. Install and run EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac on another Mac computer, select "File" > "Create Bootable USB". Then, choose a USB drive to create the bootable disc.

Mac data recovery from bootable media - step 1

Warning
The creator will prompt to erase the drive to reallocate the space. Then it can write the bootable files to this drive. Please back up all USB files with EaseUS Todo Backup for Mac before processing "Eraser".

Step 2. The program starts to create a 2GB space and save the boot files. The rest space on the USB can still be used for storage.

Mac data recovery from bootable media - step 2

Step 3. Once it completes, please follow the guide to boot the corrupted Mac from the bootable disc and start the recovery. We suggest you restore the data to an external hard drive. 

Mac data recovery from bootable media - step 3

How to Recover Data from Mac Hard Disk

Step 1. Search for lost files

Select the disk location to search for lost files (it can be an internal HDD/SSD or an external hard drive) where you lost data and files. Click the "Search for lost files" button.

Recover Data Step1

Step 2. Go through the scanning results

This software will immediately scan your selected disk volume and display pictures, documents, audio, videos, and emails on the left pane.

Recover Data Step2

Step 3. Select the file(s) and recover

Click the data to preview, and click the "Recover" button to have them back.

Recover Data Step3

After the data recovery, you can use the "Disk Utility" to erase your Mac disk and then choose "Reinstall macOS" to finish the reinstalling. 

See More about EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac

EaseUS Mac data recovery program allows you to recover deleted files from the emptied trash bin, internal/external hard drive, SSD, corrupted or formatted memory card, including memory sticks, SD cards, CF cards, XD & MMC cards. Besides, it also enables you to recover lost Word, Excel, PPT, etc. 

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Updated by Cedric

Cedric Grantham is one of the senior editors of EaseUS who lives and works in Chengdu, China. He mainly writes articles about data recovery tutorials on PC and Mac and how-to tips for partition management. He always keeps an eye on new releases and loves various electronic products.

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Written by Jean

Since graduating from university, Jean has been writing tech articles and has been a valuable member of the EaseUS team for over 5 years. Her areas of expertise include data recovery, disk partitioning, data backup, and multimedia world.

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