Mac OS X Yosemite broke my iMac

I recently tried to update my iMac OS to Yosemite as most people had already done it a while ago. it downloaded the package when rebooted to install it. It was stuck with error message.

It looks as if there was an issue with hard drive preventing installation. I was also unfortunate to revert the installation, hence end up loosing all my files as I decided to erase the disk and create new partition. Even after formatting the disk and using 'Reinstall OS X' from recovery mode; I am unable to complete.

The screen doesn't seem to do anything stuck at 'Downloading additional components, it will automatically restart' I tried leaving it for few hours but no result.

Would someone please share your experience?

Solution 1:

Try using Internet Recovery Mode instead of the regular Recovery Mode, and make sure that you formatted the right hard drive (in other words if you have an external hard drive plugged in, make sure that you formatted your actual hard drive, not your external one).

Here is some more info about different recovery modes from Apple's support site.

Solution 2:

Do not worry about this issue, seems your drive + recovery are corrupt.
Here's a list of stuffs you'll need to fix this problem.

Find a mac nearby (ask a friend or go to apple store)
Download a fresh copy of Yosemite (Apple store people can give you)
Download Lion Disk maker - To make bootable USB of Yosemite - Link : http://liondiskmaker.com
Create a bootable USB Yosemite Installation.
Boot to installation and create NEW PARTITION ( Delete previous partition* Note I'm talking about partition and not logic drives)
Creating new partition will delete your previous mac recovery, but don't worry about it.
1. Try installing Yosemite, I'm sure this time you won't be prompted by that error.

If this worked, come back to this post again and I'll let you know how to bring or create a new recovery.

Solution 3:

If you need to recover your old data, you can do so using PhotoRec. It's a free program that only needs the Terminal to run (in other words, you don't need to restore you full operating system to be able to use it).

If you are able to boot into the Internet Recovery Mode as I mentioned in my previous reply (or even the regular Recovery Mode for that matter), then you should be able to recover your data using PhotoRec.

All you need to do is download PhotoRec onto a flash drive, and once you're in your preferred recovery mode, go to Utilities > Terminal. In the Terminal, you can navigate to your flash drive by typing: