Question: Does Reinstall macOS Wipe Hard Drive?
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2 Answers. Reinstalling macOS from the recovery menu does not erase your data. However, if there is a corruption issue, your data may be corrupted as well, its really hard to tell.

Does reinstalling Mac OS wipe hard drive?

Reinstalling Mac OSX by booting into the Rescue drive partition (hold Cmd-R at boot) and selecting “Reinstall Mac OS” does not delete anything. It overwrites all system files in-place, but retains all your files and most preferences.

What happens if you reinstall macOS?

It does exactly what it says it does–reinstalls macOS itself. It only touches operating system files that are there in a default configuration, so any preference files, documents and applications that are either changed or not there in the default installer are simply left alone.

Chloe Bennett

Chloe Bennett

Culture, Media & Entertainment Columnist

Chloe Bennett explores the intersection of pop culture, streaming entertainment, digital trends, and contemporary lifestyle. Her weekly commentary reaches thousands of culture enthusiasts.

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