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From: Alan Browne <singularity@blackhole.org>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system
Subject: Re: Has all the data disappeared off my old core2duo iMac?
Date: Sun, 9 Jun 2024 19:39:35 -0400
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On 2024-06-09 17:21, Amanda Ripanykhazov wrote:
> I have this old computer as a living room backup. It wasn't started for 
> a while and then started booting to a shut down when just past the 
> halfway mark on the blue ribbon progress bar. First aid wouldn't 
> complete its verification and nor would fsck in single user mode.
> 
> Eventually I managed to get FSCK -Rc to repair a huge number of clusters 
> (?)  and now the whole drive appears to be completely empty in DU

The "repairing" of clusters may have also removed the information 
connecting all the files rendering the disk useless for MacOS.

There may be data recovery programs that can go in and suss out some files.

> But First Aid runs fine.
> 
> I dont remember what OS was on it (it may have been Mojave) but trying 
> to reinstall seems to want to run El Capitain.

Usually Macs want to re-install from the OS they were born with (I 
think) if the disk is completely borked.

> Whatever it was, I can't re-install anything. At first it says drive 
> locked and then it wants to do a fresh install of El Capitain.
> 
> What is the best way of getting answer to the question of what is on the 
> drive or if DU says NOTHING, is that the only answer? I'd like to look 
> to see if there were any photos or videos on this computer which I 
> haven't got on any backup drive before I format and re-install

I do hope your backups have all (or at least most) of what you want.

Assuming you did have backups, I'd not invest much more time into it - 
fresh install recover from backup (or sell it) and move on.

-- 
"It would be a measureless disaster if Russian barbarism overlaid
  the culture and independence of the ancient States of Europe."
Winston Churchill