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I have a situation very similar to the ones depicted in two previous questions I found (this and this), but still different (I address why my situation is different later on in the question).

The problem

I am really panicking, my computer has been in unbootable status for two days now and because of coronavirus lockdown, in Italy there is no any opened tech shop, at this point I do not know what to do and any help is very much appreciated.

I had a ~50 GB linux partition on the SSD (total ~250 GB) of my 15” Macbook Pro mid-2015. I created this partition to boot ubuntu back in 2016 and I used it regularly alongside macOS. About one year ago I updated to Mojave 10.14, and this is the macOS version my computer is running now (I am mentioning it because I suppose that the update changed the file system of my macOS partition to APFS, keeping unmodified the ubuntu partition, I guess).

Today I decided to remove the ubuntu partition, I started the computer on macOS, opened Disk Utility, find the ~50 GB partition assigned to ubuntu on the pie chart, I clicked on the “-“ sign to remove the partition and then “Apply”. Disk Utility returned to me instantly with an error (not remember exactly the text, but I remember that no error code was given) saying it could not perform the operation, so I googled a bit some solutions (MY COMPUTER WAS PERFECTLY WORKING) and I found a post suggesting to perform some operations from ubuntu, so I decided to restart my computer in order to open ubuntu - I repeat, it was perfectly working, many apps opened and fully working, etc. - and...

It booted into “GNU GRUB version 2.02”

I tried to restart my mac keeping “option” pressed, but it could only find the “EFI Boot” disk (picture attached) which is the one I usually select to boot Ubuntu. Also, Ubuntu now doesn’t even work anymore, because if I select “EFI Boot” it starts “GNU GRUB version 2.02”.

Now I really started panicking, I don’t care about data of the ~50 GB ubuntu partition, but so foolishly I haven’t backed up the ~200 GB macOS data, and I am just so affectionate to them, I would really like to recover them.

Data Recap

  • 15” Macbook Pro mid-2015
  • Right now I am booting from the network.
  • 256 GB SSD partitioned in:
  • ~200 GB APFS macOS partition - FileVault encrypted - running Mojave 10.14
  • ~50 GB ubuntu partition - don’t remember the file system (data here doesm’t matter to me)

Photos Attached

  • diskutil list
  • gpt -r show /dev/disk1
  • disk1 information from Disk Utility
  • Disk Utility overview of the physical disk
  • booting situation with only the “EFI Boot” partition

Why my situation is different

My situation is different from other questions because of 3 reasons:

  • The ~50 GB ubuntu partition is disappeared, maybe corrupted, indeed if you add up all the disk's size in diskutil list, you still miss ~50 GB.
  • I have 2 disks at the same time (index 2 and index 3) that are in the FFFFFFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFFFFFFFFFF status
  • When I call gpt -r show /dev/disk1 I don't get any "Suspicious MBR at sector 0" message unlike others users that wrote other questions.

Update 1

I just wanted to confirm that I am booting the mac from Network Recovery and also my Disk Utility version. Disk Utility Version is: "Version 13 (606)" - "Copyright 2002-2014 Apple Inc.". Is seems, indeed, pretty old.

Disk Utility overview of the physical disk diskutil list gpt -r show /dev/disk1 booting situation with only the “EFI Boot” partition disk1 information from Disk Utility Disk Utility overview of the disk1s2

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Try the following commands.

gpt remove -i 2 /dev/disk1
gpt add -i 2 -b 409640 -s 397105928 -t 7C3457EF-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC /dev/disk1

 

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  • thanks so much for taking the time to answer. Just wanted to ask, this command does not risk to change something permanently or to permanently corrupt the data? Also if you need me to provide some more information like diskutil list I will immediately provide. Thanks again.
    – scugn1zz0
    Commented Mar 17, 2020 at 1:35
  • @DavidAnderson I'd like to note that the version of Disk Utility that OP is currently using (internet recovery?) is fairly old and may not even recognize APFS, and I'm sure diskutil won't recognize it either.
    – At0micMutex
    Commented Mar 17, 2020 at 4:28
  • @At0mic: Good point. I will change my comment.
    – David Anderson
    Commented Mar 17, 2020 at 4:53
  • The gpt command does not change the data stored in the partition. The command only changes the values stored in the GUID partition table (GPT). In this case, the GUID type will change from FFFFFFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFFFFFFFFFF to 7C3457EF-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC. Usually, macOS recovery will only mount volume(s), if the partition is a valid APFS container. I suppose there is always a chance something could go wrong. The easiest way, to determine if the commands fixed your Mac, would be to try to boot to macOS.
    – David Anderson
    Commented Mar 17, 2020 at 4:55
  • So, I just wanted to confirm that I am booting from internet Recovery. And that the version of Disk Utility is "Version 13 (606) Copyright 2002-2014 Apple Inc." So indeed it looks pretty old. If my chances to recover the data are increased by booting the mac from a USB stick with Mojave (and hence the latest Disk Utility) I will do that. Not immediately though, since I do not have another mac at handy, but I hope I can find a solution. Thank you very much to both of you again.
    – scugn1zz0
    Commented Mar 17, 2020 at 7:50

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