Help, I erased my hard drive trying to reset iMac to factory setting

[Cleman]

I have an iMac 21.5” 4K. I went to use it and the apple image came up like it does when it resets or upgrades. This was strange to me as I had not used the computer for two days prior to this. As I tried figuring out what to do I went to apple and read I could press command R. I then tried resetting the iMac to factory settings and while doing so I erased my hard drive. I never backed it up, and now I don’t see my hard drive and I am not sure what I have just done. I have tried to reinstall IOS but I don’t see my drive any more. I only see what’s below. Did I just kill my iMac? Any help would be appreciated.
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[Chundles]

So, let me understand this:

The computer was updating its OS.
You were unsure as to why the computer was updating its OS.
Instead of letting it finish, you booted into recovery mode and erased your Hard Drive?

Why?

 

[Cleman]

So, let me understand this:

The computer was updating its OS.
You were unsure as to why the computer was updating its OS.
Instead of letting it finish, you booted into recovery mode and erased your Hard Drive?

Why?

Not exactly, initially I waited for about three hours and the computer acted as though it was updating but the screen would shut off, when I would press the power on button the same screen and would appear (apple logo, loading bar). Thats when I started looking for help online.

 

[Chundles]

Oh OK, your post was describing something different, your second post does indicate an actual problem with the drive occurring prior to you booting into recovery mode.

Sounds like your computer has a busted hard drive and needs a new one, nothing you did caused it, from the updated description of the initial symptom it’s clear there was an existing hardware issue. Gotta be clear when describing issues otherwise we can’t tell what the problem is.

 

[Cleman]

Oh OK, your post was describing something different, your second post does indicate an actual problem with the drive occurring prior to you booting into recovery mode.

Sounds like your computer has a busted hard drive and needs a new one, nothing you did caused it, from the updated description of the initial symptom it’s clear there was an existing hardware issue. Gotta be clear when describing issues otherwise we can’t tell what the problem is.

Thank you for your guidance.

 

[Fishrrman]

The hard drive may still be ok.

What happens if you boot to "command R" (recovery partition)?
Do you get to the internet utilities?

If that doesn't work, try booting to INTERNET recovery.
To get there, reboot and hold down "command-OPTION-R".
Can you get there?

Try these things, and tell us what happens.

It WAS NOT A GOOD IDEA to be trying to do this without a backup.
Chances are, if you've erased your personal stuff on the internal drive, then you're not going to "get it back".