"OS X Base System" - Data is gone

[puppyd0g21]

Hello, I was recently attempting to update one of my apps through the App Store, and the computer was shut off during the installation. Now the hard drive reads "OS X Base System", and only has 6GB of data on the drive. If I go into the drive, I am unable to find my user folder with any of my pictures/documents/etc.

I have tried to use data recovery like TechTool Pro 9 and RStudio, but neither are able to find any data. All I see within the drive are folders like Library, System, usr, MacOS install Data,bin, dev, etc. I have tried to reinstall the OS using the recovery partition, but everytime it reboots and says "Cannot continue installation, there is already a version of MacOS or installation media on this disk. Please reboot and try again"

I am stuck and not sure what to do anymore. It's almost like the data completely vanished and is no longer retrievable. Regretfully I did not have a backup, so if the data is gone, it is gone. Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[treekram]

More information would really be helpful - like what Mac you have, what type (HDD or SSD) of drive and data size you were using. Also, was it a regular non-Apple app you were trying to upgrade or some Apple system app? It would also be helpful to know if there was anything unusual (encrypted disk, multiple partitions, etc.) about your setup.

There's a possibility that the disk has gone bad but because it sounds like you were able to boot from it, it would appear that it can work to some extent. In this case the data may still have been on the drive.

The best thing to once this happens is to not use the drive until you have a strategy for dealing with it. When something like what happened to you happens, the data is not likely totally lost (but this also depends if you have a HDD or SSD). The more you use it, especially using it as the system disk, the less likely you will able to retrieve data.