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How do I uninstall Catalina? I can't use my MacBook Air for anything anymore.

How do I uninstall Catalina? I can't use my MacBook Air for anything anymore.

MacBook

Posted on Nov 9, 2019 7:48 AM

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Posted on Nov 9, 2019 7:52 AM

If you performed a Time Machine backup before upgrading to Catalina, then you have a means to revert to the previous operating system as it was before you upgraded to Catalina. You would boot into Recovery mode, and select Restore from Time Machine Backup. If you did not perform a Time Machine backup prior to the Catalina upgrade, then you are faced with a clean install from a bootable USB stick, and loss of any existing data on Catalina.



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Nov 9, 2019 7:52 AM in response to upsetMom2

If you performed a Time Machine backup before upgrading to Catalina, then you have a means to revert to the previous operating system as it was before you upgraded to Catalina. You would boot into Recovery mode, and select Restore from Time Machine Backup. If you did not perform a Time Machine backup prior to the Catalina upgrade, then you are faced with a clean install from a bootable USB stick, and loss of any existing data on Catalina.



Nov 9, 2019 1:15 PM in response to VikingOSX

Thank you, I will try this. (But- No I did not perform a Time Machine backup- before my upgrade- and I really don't know when that last backup was- I guess I thought it backed up automatically?). - I am worried that work I have done since Catalina will be lost? ( I have a paper due next Thursday- which was in Word, but when Microsoft said I would have to pay $70/year for Word from now on - I was able to copy it into Google Docs and finished it there). I'm a little bit afraid I will lose that work if I revert, so I plan to wait until the paper is in before doing so- unless you can assure me that Google Docs will be unaffected.

Nov 9, 2019 1:32 PM in response to upsetMom2

Do not attempt to perform that boot into Recovery and Restore from a Time Machine backup if you do not know what is on that Time Machine backup, or when it was done. You could be setting yourself up for substantial data loss in that gap before you performed the Catalina upgrade. The best time to perform a Time Machine backup is immediately before the upgrade, so there is no doubt what is on the drive. Any new documents that you have created on Catalina should go on a USB stick for now, or start performing Time Machine backups from Catalina.


If you do not want to pay for a Microsoft Office 365 subscription, you could install the free, 64-bit LibreOffice Suite on Catalina. This is an MS Office clone that is frequently updated, and has the best Office document support next to Microsoft applications.

How do I uninstall Catalina? I can't use my MacBook Air for anything anymore.

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