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Level 1

18 points

Desperately need to remove Catalina and reinstall Mojave

How can I go back to Mojave from Catalina? I have a program that will not function with the new upgrade. When I try to restore an older version from my backups, I am told that "The system can't be restored onto this disk because HFS systems can't be restored to space sharing APFS volumes. Reinstall macOS on this disk and then use Migration Assistant to transfer data from your backup assistant."

What can I do?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Oct 30, 2019 6:45 PM

Best reply

Scily98

Level 1

15 points

Posted on Mar 31, 2020 4:03 PM

I had the same problem and found the solution. A program I use did not work on Catalina after I upgraded from High Sierra. Luckily I had a time machine backup from high sierra although when trying to restore from the Time Machine it gave me the error message. To overcome this I had to go on disk utility and delete both Macintosh and mackintosh HD by using the minus button then the volume reappeared as SSD flash storage I then raised the volume renaming at Macintosh using OS extended (journaled) Then I went back to restore from Time Machine and everything worked out as planned. I hope this helps I’m sure it works the same for operating systems other than High Sierra.

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59 replies

May 5, 2020 5:38 AM in response to KeithAnsel

Hi there, I have the same problem did you get it sorted?

Scily98

Level 1

15 points

May 5, 2020 10:34 AM in response to KeithAnsel

You can download the boot image of what operating system you most prefer from the internet onto a usb drive. Then when restoring to default it should give you the option to boot from external drive.

Scily98

Level 1

15 points

May 16, 2020 6:30 AM in response to Son333

Just before we go to dire steps can I ask. Do you have a time machine of the original machine running the OS you want to keep using.

Scily98

Level 1

15 points

May 16, 2020 10:27 AM in response to Son333

What operating system was your Mac on when it did the time machine

Son333

Level 1

4 points

May 18, 2020 4:52 AM in response to Scily98

I have a macbook pro mid 2012 - it came with mountain lion - I upgraded to El Captain, and then to Catalina

the time machine back up dates to El Captain

May 27, 2020 9:19 PM in response to nandika98

I don't understand the instructions. Also, what is TimeMachine? My MacBook Pro mid 2012 is running incredibly slow with Catalina. How do I delete it without TimeMachine?

Scily98

Level 1

15 points

May 28, 2020 1:03 PM in response to Son333

Sorry for such a delayed response I haven’t checked this thread. You should be able to restore from a time machine back up from recovery. Then if anything is missing use migration assistance.

shuai96

Level 1

4 points

Jun 1, 2020 11:09 PM in response to Scily98

Thanks so much! It worked!

Jun 5, 2020 10:23 AM in response to Scily98

Understood! Thank you very much!

Jun 6, 2020 10:29 AM in response to Scily98

Thanks for that. Yeah I forgot to mention that that picture is from the recovery mode

Scily98

Level 1

15 points

Jun 6, 2020 11:16 AM in response to YuriOokino

You will need to erase the top partition so in your case that is the fusion drive. If it does not give you the option right away try mounting it.

Jun 7, 2020 1:35 PM in response to Scily98

Thank you for walking me through this step by step. It worked and I'm extremely happy. It turned out it was after all the Container Disk 2 that I had to erase, but it all turned out fine

JDyck83

Level 1

4 points

Jun 30, 2020 7:15 AM in response to Scily98

Oh I'll happily retract my previous statement, thanks for your help! You know a lot about the systems!

Scily98

Level 1

15 points

Aug 3, 2020 9:13 AM in response to Arsabdurra

You may need to restart your Mac into recovery mode and restore it to factory then try again. When restarting your Mac hold command + R

Desperately need to remove Catalina and reinstall Mojave