Q: How to Downgrade From El Capitan to Yosemite Without Losing Data and Without Using Time Machine?
I have been searching for an answer to this question, but could not find one. If their is one and a missed it, please tell me and I will happily look over it. The reason I want to do this without using Time Machine, is because I didn't use it at the time of Yosemite. And, I have found out that you can use a USB or SD to downgrade, but how do you do this without losing all of my data?
MacBook Pro (15-inch 2.53 GHz), OS X El Capitan (10.11.5), null
Posted on Jul 6, 2016 3:39 PM
It would be best to have 2 backups for safety, but 1 will do it if nothing goes wrong.
Applications -> Utilities -> Migration Assistant can be used to restore your data.
Or you can drag and drop files and folders from the backup to the clean install of Yosemite, if you do a clone style backup. TimeMachine backup would be best to use Migration Assistant.
This link may provide other opinions on downgrading from El Capitan <https://discussions.apple.com/search.jspa?after=year&q=downgrade+el+capitan>
Eric Root frequently has links on how to do this in his replies.
Posted on Jul 6, 2016 4:18 PM