How to reinstall Snow leopard from Mountain Lion on 2010 Mac Mini

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How to reinstall Snow leopard from Mountain Lion on 2010 Mac Mini

I have a mid summer 2010 Mac Mini that originally came with Snow Leopard and I still have the install disks. In september, I upgrade to Mountain lion and due to the slow and unacceptable performance since then, I want to go back to Snow Leopard. I have been backing up on an external drive with TIme Machine for the past two years. I upgraded on September 12 and I have a several Time Machine Backups in August and early September when I was still operating with Snow Leopard. My question- Can I open up in Mountain Lion the Recovery disk option, use Disk Utility to erase the Mini's hard drive and then reinstall a time machine backup from before September 12? I have backed up files that have been changed in the past several months including mail and iweb. Will going to a previous back up in Time Machine before I upgraded work? If this won't work, can I use the Snow Leopard Disk and do the same thing- wipe clean the mini's hard drive and install a Time Machine Backup from before sept 12 from my external drive?

Any input, suggestions or instructions on this topic would be appreciated.

Thanks

Karl

Posted on Dec 5, 2012 9:19 PM

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Answer 1

BGreg

Level 6

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Dec 6, 2012 4:48 AM in response to 58Stratman

You may want to ask this in the Mountain Lion discussion here.

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Answer 2

ds store

Level 7

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Dec 6, 2012 1:17 PM in response to 58Stratman

How to revert your Mac to Snow Leopard

How to erase and install Snow Leopard 10.6

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Answer 3

58Stratman Author

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Dec 7, 2012 11:41 AM in response to BGreg

Thanks for the advice - It is now posted in that discussion group.

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Answer 4

58Stratman Author

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Dec 7, 2012 11:49 AM in response to ds store

THanks ds store for the links. I had previoulsy seen those but was confused as I've seen some other postings saying that yes you can use Time Machine and go back to a previous back up when Snow Leopard was installed and it will reinstall Snow Leopard and all files at that time and remove Mountain Lion. Other posting such as the ones you linked say that I have to use the Snow Leopard Install Disks- erase my hard drive and basiclly start from scratch reinstalling all applications and user files/documents that I've saved etc.... If the time machine option will work - I'd really like to go that route.

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