How can i downgrade from Lion to SnowLeopard?

Downgrade Lion to Snow Leopard

1. Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.

2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.

3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.

4. Quit DU and return to the installer. Install Snow Leopard.

This will erase the whole drive so be sure to backup your files if you don't have a backup already. If you have performed a TM backup using Lion be aware that you cannot restore from that backup in Snow Leopard. I suggest you make a separate backup using Carbon Copy Cloner 3.4.1.

Kappy wrote:

. . .

If you have performed a TM backup using Lion be aware that you cannot restore from that backup in Snow Leopard. I suggest you make a separate backup using Carbon Copy Cloner 3.4.1.

Hi, Kappy,

Could I ask you to reword that a bit? It may be a bit misleading:

Technically it's sort of true; if you do a full restore of a Lion TM backup, you'll still be on Lion.

But if you have a Snow Leopard Time Machine backup, you can do a full restore of it (whether there are Lion backups or not), and revert to Snow Leopard, per #14 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.

And you can restore selected files to Snow Leopard from a Lion backup via the "Star Wars" display. It's not recommended, as some Snow Leopard apps (Mail in particular) may not work with the data from Lion (also true if you restore those files from a Lion clone).

Thanks,

Jim

Note that iMacs that come with Lion pre-installed won't run Snow Leopard.

You don't need to erase the disk first. I installed Lion on my Mac Pro which was previously on 10.6.8, but I was never able to log in with any of the original users (another story) and in the end simply booted from the original SL DVD and installed straight onto the disc. There were no errors and I was immediately able to log in with the original users. I then ran the combined 10.6.8 update to get back to the latest release.

There were a couple of minor tidy ups required, but so trivial I've already forgotten what. Other than that, the mac Pro is running exactly as it was prior to the disastrous Lion upgrade.

HI Kappy!

Thanks for the info...

I am thinkning of downgrading as well..

also, wanted to check - what if we would like to upgrade the OS again... what happens to the $29 spent? do we have to again pay or how does it work?

looking forward to a reply.

thanks!

Stupid question as I unfamiliar with "cloning".

Should I select my entire HD for the Clone using Carbon Copy Cloner or just my user folder (there is only one user).

I am so screwed. I upgraded today and now see that my 10 yrs of Quicken will not open. I need help on how to retreve my files or how to restore to the previous operating system. Sadly I have not backed up my computer in a month or so. Any help is soooooooo appreciated

If you installed as a download through iTunes,check the app Store. My App Store says Lion is "Installed."

I am guessing if (WHEN!) I reinstall SL, Lion will appear as a green button waiting for me to install and I would not have to pay again.

If anyone can confirm that, it would be much appreciated.

Hi Kappy,

Thanks for the detailed answer.

What if I have Paralells on my MBP and I want to retain my Windows configuration. Will the SL install affect my Windows partition?

In response to UKenGB - I know this was in August, I am ready to go back to SL - tooo many things not working with Lion. Latest, cannot scan using my printer which I bought less than a year ago, had to buy Mirosoft Office 2011, the list goes on.... So, just put the Snow Leopard disk in and that's it?? I have read all of these complicated steps needed, so I am a bit apprehensive - backed up most of my files to external hard drive.