I accidentally erased Mac mini hard drive and now I can’t boot into macOS.

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Level 1

4 points

I accidentally erased Mac mini hard drive and now I can’t boot into macOS.

I was trying to reinstall macOS on my intel-based Mac mini from 2010 and accidentally erased the hard drive. Whenever i boot into internet recovery it always says there is an error when trying to reinstall OS X. Is there any way i can reinstall macOS from a usb flash drive? I only have a spare windows laptop which I can use.

Earlier Mac models

Posted on Oct 4, 2025 5:06 AM

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Answer 1

den.thed

Level 10

90,400 points

Oct 4, 2025 6:46 AM in response to zaydm786

If you have the original 10.6.4 Install Disc Set that came with the 2010 Mac mini,

then you can use that to reinstall the macOS.

The second option, is to use the Retail 10.7 Lion Upgrade that came on a Flash Drive,

then upgrade to El Capitan or High Sierra from there.

The third option, is to create an El Capitan or High Sierra installer on a Flash Drive.

see > Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

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