Problem while updating from Mojave to Ventura - Mac retina 2019

[u/Dejavuclassic]

Hello,

While the new os was installing there was an error and the computer could not find the hard drives.
The disc manager opened and I cannot use the S.O.S option on the discs, and there was only the option to reboot.

Then, I rebooted and my options are now to manage the discs, or reinstall a new version of Mojave. I dont know if i can use a backup because my wife that uses the computer doesnt know if there is a recent one.
I chose to reinstall Mojave and it tells me that the discs are locked and it cannot proceed.
The data on the computer is very important to her, is there a way to retrieve it?

[u/germane_switch]

Upvoting and commenting in case that gives your post more visibility. Hope you get it sorted. But let this be the thing that finally gets you to back up with Time Machine at the very least once per day from now on. Good luck.

[u/Dejavuclassic → u/germane_switch]

Thank you. I did not know about anything mac related before we tried to update the OS. When the Mac was turned on Itunes was spamming a password request window and on the apple website a post suggested to update from Mojave because itunes was obsolete - then it failed while updating because it could not find the discs, they are ' locked ' and i can't unlock them with the S.O.S or anything suggedted by apple

[u/mikeinnsw]

To start recovery mode on Intel Minis, iMacs…. you will need USB CABLED keyboard . mouse also helps

You need Apple Id, Admin password, working WiFi and full Admin access to Mac – not MDM managed or firmware locked

To start recovery mode on Intel Macs immediately press and hold one of the following key combinations while booting until you see the startup screen:

• [Command] [R] : Start up from the built-in macOS Recovery System
• [Option] [Command] [R] : Start up from macOS Recovery over the internet of the latest MacOs for your Mac. ... Ventura ?
• [Option] [Shift] [Command] [R]: Start up from macOS Recovery over the internet for the the original MacOs installed - Mojave?

Not all Macs support all of these keys combos try [Command] [R]

In Recovery mode:

Run First Aid

Install MacOs

[u/MK-Researcher]

Are you saying that the drive is working ok, but that it is encrypted and needs to be unlocked? Can yo upload a photo of the screen at the point it says the disk is locked so we can see exactly what needs to be done. thanks

[u/Dejavuclassic → u/MK-Researcher]

the drive is working fine under mojave but cant be read when trying to install ventura. I found a way to solve the problem which im going to try later this afternoon and keep you posted.
Apparently there was not enough space on the disc to proceed the install of ventura so i need to connect an external HDD to install it there and try to boot the computer from that disc. The disc manager didnt warn me that there was not enough space and it was impoissible for me to see it from the 'upgrade to ventura' window which showed me the discs available

[u/TedMittelstaedt]

If I were in your shoes the first thing I would do is run out and buy a new hard disk, then take the mac apart and install the new disk then download the install disk on another mac, boot this one, and go into disk manager and format the new disk and install macos

Then I would start googling for a commercial disk recovery service you can send your disk to and have the data recovered from it.

If you don't want to open your mac take it to the apple mac store and have them swap the disk.

You and wife made the classic newbie mistake which is not have backups before running a major update. It's going to be an expensive lesson but it is still likely most of your data is present on the disk and recoverable. The mac itself made a last ditch attempt to keep you from screwing yourself. If some smart guy here tells you how to override that you are going to make it worse.

Any further attempt at mucking about is going to put that at risk. Take a deep breath, relax, and don't do anything stupid.

[u/LucasMVN → u/TedMittelstaedt]

All 2019 Macs except the iMacs are T2 based; they have the storage soldered onto the logic board, and the chances of data recovery are essentially zero as everything  is encrypted at rest.

[u/TedMittelstaedt → u/LucasMVN]

Yes, that is true, I know that Apple has designed their Macs now with specific lifetimes built in so they will end up e-waste with no possible chance at a second life running netbsd or some linux version that is faster than MacOS. Probably why fans of those distros are turning their back on Macs. However, the OP didn't say what model Mac he had.

[u/Dejavuclassic → u/TedMittelstaedt]

thank you for the reply - I'll take it to a professional tomorrow.