APFS Container is gone! Help Please :/

[jwayne019]

Hey there,
So I partitioned my SSD to make room for Windows Bootcamp. Everything went smoothly until I was taken into windows and asked to format the partition that windows would be installed on. I installed windows and everything worked fine. UNTIL I restarted my computer to get into OSX, I was unable to so I booted to recovery and saw that my Mac HD was unmounted and I was unable to mount/repair it. The APFS container was gone and I'm assuming that this is why I can not access my hard drive. My original hard drive space is 512.11GB, however both the APFS volume and disk0 show a max space of 391GB.
My question is, Is there anyway to create a container around my current Mac HD that should be in a container?
Am I pretty much screwed, or is there hope for recovering my data?

I appreciate all your time and help. I've attached pictures for reference.

This is High Sierra 10.13.13 MBPr 2014 2.5ghz 8GB RAM 512GB Toshiba NVME M.2 SSD.

 

[Fishrrman]

"Am I pretty much screwed, or is there hope for recovering my data?"

Ummm... this is what "backups" are for... eh?

You might try using an external drive to boot the Mac (although having a fully-bootable external drive for emergency booting is another concept you may need to learn about).

Boot from your external drive and then see what is "accessible" on your internal drive.

Or... take the Mac to a brick-n-mortar Apple genius bar and let them have a look at it.

Suggestion for the future:
DON'T use Bootcamp.
Instead, use a "virtual machine" solution for Windows, such as VMWare Fusion, Parallels, or Virtual Box.
Could save you a lot of trouble...

 

[chrfr]

Hey there,
So I partitioned my SSD to make room for Windows Bootcamp.

Did you use the Bootcamp utility to create the partition? If not, exactly what did you do to create the partition?

 

[jwayne019]

Did you use the Bootcamp utility to create the partition? If not, exactly what did you do to create the partition?

Yes, I used bootcamp to create the partition.

"Am I pretty much screwed, or is there hope for recovering my data?"

Ummm... this is what "backups" are for... eh?

You might try using an external drive to boot the Mac (although having a fully-bootable external drive for emergency booting is another concept you may need to learn about).

Boot from your external drive and then see what is "accessible" on your internal drive.

Or... take the Mac to a brick-n-mortar Apple genius bar and let them have a look at it.

Suggestion for the future:
DON'T use Bootcamp.
Instead, use a "virtual machine" solution for Windows, such as VMWare Fusion, Parallels, or Virtual Box.
Could save you a lot of trouble...

1. I wrote this post booting from my back up external drive wiseguy
2. I have VMWare and for the task I am doing I need the full power of the Mac so I elected to give Bootcamp a try.
3. I can not access the internal drive, it refuses to be mounted.

I don't need advice on what you think I should have done, I'm not a noob, I simply have never come across this problem. I have work on my internal drive that I had yet to back up and instead of re-doing all of that work, I would like to gain access to my drive.
So save your snide remarks and novice advice for the kids. If you were half as smart as you are trying to come across you'd know that the Apple Genius bar is trash with less knowledge on this subject than you.

 

[kenm22]

Yes, I used bootcamp to create the partition.
It would seem to me that one who is on this forum asking for help shouldn't respond with snide retorts.



1. I wrote this post booting from my back up external drive wiseguy
2. I have VMWare and for the task I am doing I need the full power of the Mac so I elected to give Bootcamp a try.
3. I can not access the internal drive, it refuses to be mounted.

I don't need advice on what you think I should have done, I'm not a noob, I simply have never come across this problem. I have work on my internal drive that I had yet to back up and instead of re-doing all of that work, I would like to gain access to my drive.
So save your snide remarks and novice advice for the kids. If you were half as smart as you are trying to come across you'd know that the Apple Genius bar is trash with less knowledge on this subject than you.

 

[ikir]

Yes, I used bootcamp to create the partition.




1. I wrote this post booting from my back up external drive wiseguy
2. I have VMWare and for the task I am doing I need the full power of the Mac so I elected to give Bootcamp a try.
3. I can not access the internal drive, it refuses to be mounted.

I don't need advice on what you think I should have done, I'm not a noob, I simply have never come across this problem. I have work on my internal drive that I had yet to back up and instead of re-doing all of that work, I would like to gain access to my drive.
So save your snide remarks and novice advice for the kids. If you were half as smart as you are trying to come across you'd know that the Apple Genius bar is trash with less knowledge on this subject than you.

Sorry but he is right, is very important to backup data, so if you are not a noob you should admit you fault and take any help without insulting. Especially NEVER use Windows to partition because it isn't "aware" and it is just stupid.

You can try with some specific software like these:
https://iboysoft.com/mac-data-recovery/data-rescue-apfs-data-recovery.html
https://iboysoft.com/mac-data-recovery/recover-lost-data-after-deleting-apfs-container.html

Why does deleted container cause data loss?
Firstly, a single APFS container holds multiple volumes and we save data on volumes. Therefore, if we delete the APFS container, all volumes are deleted at the same time and data stored on these volumes are lost.

Secondly, the APFS container contains the recovery partition and a couple of other system partitions. Thus, if you delete the APFS container, the operating system is unable to locate files saved in each volume.

Tips of deleted APFS container
After deleting APFS container, keep in mind that the more operation you do, the less data you get back. So don't make any further operation, including creating a new container and adding a new volume for these operation will cover the original data.

 

[jwayne019]

Sorry but he is right, is very important to backup data, so if you are not a noob you should admit you fault and take any help without insulting. Especially NEVER use Windows to partition because it isn't "aware" and it is just stupid.

You can try with some specific software like these:
https://iboysoft.com/mac-data-recovery/data-rescue-apfs-data-recovery.html
https://iboysoft.com/mac-data-recovery/recover-lost-data-after-deleting-apfs-container.html

Why does deleted container cause data loss?
Firstly, a single APFS container holds multiple volumes and we save data on volumes. Therefore, if we delete the APFS container, all volumes are deleted at the same time and data stored on these volumes are lost.

Secondly, the APFS container contains the recovery partition and a couple of other system partitions. Thus, if you delete the APFS container, the operating system is unable to locate files saved in each volume.

Tips of deleted APFS container
After deleting APFS container, keep in mind that the more operation you do, the less data you get back. So don't make any further operation, including creating a new container and adding a new volume for these operation will cover the original data.

Thanks for that info. For the record I did not partition in windows, I reformatted the partition that I created in OSX within windows. Also, I did state previously that am currently using my Mac booted from my external backup. He didn't offer any help, he just came here to chastise me with information that I already knew.
Regardless I really appreciate your comment and help, I was able to retrieve the data that I had not backed up using APFS data recovery! You definitely saved me a lot of time so thank you!!

 

[Fishrrman]

"Also, I did state previously that am currently using my Mac booted from my external backup. He didn't offer any help, he just came here to chastise me with information that I already knew."

If you are backed up (and by "backed up" I assume you already have copies of everything that was on the Mac partition of your drive), why should it matter if you need to access the corrupted data on the internal drive or not?

Why did you post:
"Am I pretty much screwed, or is there hope for recovering my data?"
...Because that's the statement of someone who isn't backed up (and you were).

Just erase it, restore, and be done with it.
With a good backup, this will take only as long as it takes to copy over the files, right?

A complete "erase to zero" is always the best way to clean out a jumbled drive and start fresh. I've had to do that myself.

I still wouldn't mess with Bootcamp. Just seems to be too much of headache (at least from reports from others who use it).

 

[MacBH928]

Suggestion for the future:
DON'T use Bootcamp.
Instead, use a "virtual machine" solution for Windows, such as VMWare Fusion, Parallels, or Virtual Box.
Could save you a lot of trouble...

Why not?
Running bootcamp gives you a lot more resources to your Windows OS instead of having to run 2 OSs at the same time.

 

[vkd]

Thanks for that info. For the record I did not partition in windows, I reformatted the partition that I created in OSX within windows. Also, I did state previously that am currently using my Mac booted from my external backup. He didn't offer any help, he just came here to chastise me with information that I already knew.
Regardless I really appreciate your comment and help, I was able to retrieve the data that I had not backed up using APFS data recovery! You definitely saved me a lot of time so thank you!!

Thats really great if you managed to rescue your data, I was thinking that it would be completely lost with the elimination of the APFS container.

The thing is, APFS is new and stuff made by others outside of Apple, ie. Microsoft, are not conversant with it, so when using those products especially at this level of operation (formatting the drive) we have to be VERY careful. Think twice, act once is a good advice.

Final point, the OP was bound to be quite frustrated with his situation, understandably, so perhaps not in a calm and collected condition when responding to replies he found to be not so helpful. Fair enough. I think we all have this experience and can identify with it, so in my humble opinion a lot of patience and tolerance is required from all sides here; lets just try and help and try to not get uptight and sensitive with each other, jamming the thread up with our hurt emotions. Life goes on... sometimes the sensitivity on these threads is so peaked out you can't say 'boo' to a goose, people un-friending each other and blocking you just because your viewpoint is different. Of course cordiality and respect is paramount, we are not animals. Deep breath, chant Om, relax. Repeat x3 LOL