How do I revert from Mavericks to Mt. Lion?

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How do I revert from Mavericks to Mt. Lion?

I have tried the suggestions contained in similar threads without success. My configuration may be causing problems. Here is my configuration and the pathway I would like to use:

As shown below, I have a MacPro early 2008 running OSX 10.9. I have an iPhone 4S running iOS 7.0.3. I back up Time Machine to an external hard drive and also to a separate internal hard drive that occupies one of the bays on my Mac Pro, but it is NOT the same hard drive on which Mavericks resides.

Before migrating from Mountain Lion 10.8.5 to Mavericks, I did a final backup of Time Machine to each of the two drives mentioned above. I then proceeded to install Mavericks 10.9. For me, this was a mistake. I normally wait until at least three updates have occurred before moving up to the next OS X offering. The many flaws I have encountered in the way Mavericks currently operates have funally exhausted my patience and I must revert to 10.8.5.

I would like to make the change using Time Machine for both the Mountain Lion operating system and all of the applications and documents. If I were going to reinstall Snow Leopard 10.6.8, I would start by reinstalling the OS using the DVD which I have and then I would restore the apps and documents from Time Machine. However, neither Mavericks nor Mountain Lion have DVDs. I believe that they both can be installed by Time Machine, but this is where I run aground. I don't know how to make it happen. I have tried and have been hindered by popup windows telling me I can't change the Applications. I can't go on from there. I would prefer to dowload from the hard drive version of Time Machine rather than the external drive for the simple reason that the internal hard drive is faster. If that is not advisable, I am certainly willing to go with the external drive. It is my understanding that I can restore Mountain Lion directly from Time Machine along with all of the documents and other stored items such as Applications, Library, etc.

I have tried to do this, but can't seem to get the hang of it. I need a tutor who knows how to do the job using this path. Assistance will be greatly appreciated.

iPhone 4S, iOS 7.0.3, MacPro early 2008, OSX 10.9

Posted on Oct 31, 2013 3:12 PM

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Answer 1

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baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Oct 31, 2013 11:15 PM in response to JoBo

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6161

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Answer 2

JoBo Author

Level 1

32 points

Nov 1, 2013 12:37 PM in response to baltwo

A SIMPLE METHOD FOR REVERTING FROM MAVERICKS BACK TO AN EARLIER OS X VERSION

There were so many caveats and side issues included on various instructions that didn't apply to me that I thought it was a bit confusing. However, I got the idea that restarting while pressing down the option key would give me access to the Recovery drive. I tried it and it gave me several choices. The top one was irresistible. It says "Restore From Time Machine Backup." I had done full backups using Time Machine to both an internal hard drive on my MacPro and an external hard drive just before installing Mavericks. I clicked on "Restore From Time Machine Backup" and selected the external drive since I wasn't sure that the internal drive would work. The internal backup drive is faster, but I felt the external drive was a safer bet. A window came up asking me to choose which backup I wanted to use. I picked the one I made just before installing Mavericks and it went to work. It took a couple of hours to finish, but as it restarted and Mountain Lion 10.8.5 appeared on the screen, I was totally relieved. I feel liberated. Everything works. No wacky glitches to say "gotcha!"

When you consider all of the written instructions, many of which are very difficult to follow, this very simple method of restoration is amazingly easy. I hope it helps others who are considering moving to OS X 10.9. Just get a good external Time Machine backup of your present system before you venture.

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Answer 3

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Nov 1, 2013 1:01 PM in response to JoBo

Thanks for posting your solution. I never use TM, only bootable clones made with Carbon Copy Cloner and have four separate OSs (Lion's due to get nuked) and their respective clones. So, restoring is a simple matter of booting into the one not upgraded/updated, nuking the mucked up one, and getting on with my work. No need to waste hours waiting for a TM backup to restore functionality since I can work from the clone while it's restoring.

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Answer 4

tbirdvet

Level 6

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Nov 1, 2013 5:00 PM in response to baltwo

baltwo: Do you then just clone from the one you booted from to your mucked up one to restore your system?

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Answer 5

baltwo

Level 9

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Nov 1, 2013 7:59 PM in response to tbirdvet

Yes, clone the clone. If there's any doubts, I'll erase the mucked up one before restoring.

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Answer 6

tbirdvet

Level 6

13,647 points

Nov 2, 2013 4:12 AM in response to baltwo

I tried this last night and while everything worked I noticed that the retsore partion was still named 10.9 and not 10.8. Does that mean if I have to use that in the future it would think I have 10.9 (Mavericks) installed or is that just a CCC naming issue?

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Answer 7

ds store

Level 7

30,725 points

Nov 2, 2013 4:29 AM in response to tbirdvet

tbirdvet wrote:

I tried this last night and while everything worked I noticed that the retsore partion was still named 10.9 and not 10.8.

You didn't first erase the ENTIRE drive (disk0) while booted from the clone, or from the 10.6 disks, or Internet Recovery.

IR uses the factory installed version of OS X, along with it's RecoveryHD, and Snow Leopard does't have RecoveryHD at all as it uses disks instead.

Try again, as you need the 10.8 RecoveryHD to redownload 10.8 and to fix your machine if it comes to that one day.

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Answer 8

tbirdvet

Level 6

13,647 points

Nov 2, 2013 5:33 AM in response to ds store

ds store: That's what I thought so I also tried erasing, reformatting the bad drive. I then used my CCC drive to restore then all I had was the EFI partion and no recovery partition at all. So the CCC drive while showing both parttions only cloned back the main OS partition and no recovery. I must have missed something in the process?

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Answer 9

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Nov 2, 2013 2:12 PM in response to tbirdvet

The latest CCC has an option to archive and restore the recovery HD. Peruse the CCC knowledge base for Recovery HD and follow those steps.

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Answer 10

JoBo Author

Level 1

32 points

Nov 2, 2013 10:57 PM in response to JoBo

One glitch associated with reverting to 10.8.5 from 10.9 was the Adobe Creative Suite CS4 lost its authorization and I couldn't use it. Finally, I had to get out the DVD set and re-install CS4. It worked just fine after that. It's the only major problem I experienced in the operation.

If I'd waited much longer to downgrade, I would have lost a lot more work than I did during my time using Mavericks. As it was, the loss was minimal. You can avoid the loss by attaching documents to one or more emails that you can send to yourself if you have more than one email account.

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Answer 11

Nov 3, 2013 6:21 PM in response to JoBo

Hi JoBo, did your method result in a 'clean install' and removes Mavericks completely? I'm concerned that it only creates a 'mirror' and may have issues further along. How has your Recovery worked out for you so far?

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Answer 12

JoBo Author

Level 1

32 points

Nov 4, 2013 7:22 PM in response to HippyJeepy

It's working just fine. I removed all Mavericks backups from Time Machine. The only glitch so far has been the necessity to reinstall Adobe CS4 from the installation disks (see the previous post). That worked fine and the Adobe updater offered to update Adobe Acrobat Pro to the latest version. I accepted and it did its work. I really think this was a good install with no mirror.

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Answer 13

Nov 5, 2013 10:55 PM in response to JoBo

Thank you so much for the heads up. I did the same thing as you did, and everything has worked, including my Adobe Creative Suite so am very relieved. It was a truly clean install, just like the first time I imported from my Time Machine into my new iMac. Serves me right for upgrading to Mavericks so soon after its release. Lesson learnt, 'don't fix what isn't broken'! Cheers JoBo.

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Answer 14

Dec 31, 2013 1:17 AM in response to JoBo

I followed your instructions yesterday but didn't go back far enough as I couldn't remember when I upgraded to Mavericks so will have another go today. You say that you removed all Mavericks backups from Time Machine - how do I do this? Also I have older computers showing on Time Machine - how do I remove those? Simple instructions like those given for removing Mavericks give above on Nov 1st please.

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Answer 15

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Dec 31, 2013 1:21 PM in response to kazibear37

See Pondini's TM FAQs, for details.

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