Hi there. I have been really struggling with rEFInd, mainly because I am not very advanced when it comes to tinkering with OSX and got a little bit in over my head. If anyone wants to be kind and impart some words of wisdom I would appreciate it.
In August, I installed rEFInd on an iMac in order to navigate between an Ubuntu OS I added via partition. This was to run some software I believed might only work in Linux but it turns out I do not need it. Recently, I went to upgrade the Cataline OSX to Big Sur, but it would not identify the Mac HD as the Boot Drive, and would not upgrade. I determined the best thing would be to remove the partition since I no longer needed it, but got all tripped up because I did not responsibly deal with rEFInd first. I ended up deleting the Ubuntu Data, and still could not Upgrade, leading me through a series of ill advised steps, I ended up deleting the data across all drives, but EFI remained. Ultimately, I restored the Mac HD from a Time Machine Backup, and was now able to update to Big Sur as I originally wanted. However, I want to make sure I remove all traces of the partition and rEFInder if it's still around (I'm hesitant to check but will after I post).
Now, it looks like I could delete the Ubuntu Partition completely and reclaim the space (I currently see it as empty space and unlike previously now can fully erase it, I could not do this previously on Catalina).
Would anyone have any suggestions? I wondered if it was a scenario where I want to consider installing rEFInd on the new OSX, so that I can be certain of it's location, and then deleting it, hoping that this re-install and removal would overwrite and then remove the extraneous software that is still running when I boot up.
I had also considered doing a complete restore by loading Big Sure as the OSX from a Thumbdrive, but I don't have a Thumbdrive currently available. Attaching a screen shot of the current partitions for reference.
For the record, I'm not mad, I brought this on and have considered it a learning process that will hopefully teach me a lesson for the future, that lesson being there are no shortcuts, and don't undertake a process and just wing it!
Great news, it looks like my clumsy solution worked a rEFInd is no more. Should I feel safe, erasing the partition to reclaim the space? I have booted twice now and it goes straight to the correct MAC OSX.
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Hi there. I have been really struggling with rEFInd, mainly because I am not very advanced when it comes to tinkering with OSX and got a little bit in over my head. If anyone wants to be kind and impart some words of wisdom I would appreciate it.
In August, I installed rEFInd on an iMac in order to navigate between an Ubuntu OS I added via partition. This was to run some software I believed might only work in Linux but it turns out I do not need it. Recently, I went to upgrade the Cataline OSX to Big Sur, but it would not identify the Mac HD as the Boot Drive, and would not upgrade. I determined the best thing would be to remove the partition since I no longer needed it, but got all tripped up because I did not responsibly deal with rEFInd first. I ended up deleting the Ubuntu Data, and still could not Upgrade, leading me through a series of ill advised steps, I ended up deleting the data across all drives, but EFI remained. Ultimately, I restored the Mac HD from a Time Machine Backup, and was now able to update to Big Sur as I originally wanted. However, I want to make sure I remove all traces of the partition and rEFInder if it's still around (I'm hesitant to check but will after I post).
Now, it looks like I could delete the Ubuntu Partition completely and reclaim the space (I currently see it as empty space and unlike previously now can fully erase it, I could not do this previously on Catalina).
Would anyone have any suggestions? I wondered if it was a scenario where I want to consider installing rEFInd on the new OSX, so that I can be certain of it's location, and then deleting it, hoping that this re-install and removal would overwrite and then remove the extraneous software that is still running when I boot up.
I had also considered doing a complete restore by loading Big Sure as the OSX from a Thumbdrive, but I don't have a Thumbdrive currently available. Attaching a screen shot of the current partitions for reference.
For the record, I'm not mad, I brought this on and have considered it a learning process that will hopefully teach me a lesson for the future, that lesson being there are no shortcuts, and don't undertake a process and just wing it!
Great news, it looks like my clumsy solution worked a rEFInd is no more. Should I feel safe, erasing the partition to reclaim the space? I have booted twice now and it goes straight to the correct MAC OSX.
Last edit: Joshua Kohler 2020-12-08