How can I uninstall OS X Yosemite and return to OS X Mavericks?

Backing up your files is a good idea; however, I would put it on an external hard drive instead. Having a totally separate partition is fine as long as it is formatted correctly and you are sure to erase the correct partition (rather than your backup), but....... in the event something goes glitchy with your hard drive, you may lose both partitions.

And yes, erasing the drive means everything will be gone. That is the only way to go "backwards" with an OS.

Thank you!

Are you able to expand on 2. at all?

I had serious Yosemite performance issues on my MacBook Pro because the software was too large for my Mac to run.

I've backed up all my files onto an external hard drive and have reset my MacBook to factory settings, but when I went to start up again I still had to download Yosemite - same problem!

How can I get my drive to use Mavericks instead when I reset it? Am I able to put the software files onto my external drive and use that when I reset it?

I have no problem with resetting it again if I need to as I haven't bothered to put my files back onto the Mac yet.

My Yahoo Messenger (that I have to use for work) no longer works. Also, my screen capture no longer will paste into email messages or other notes I need for work. Last, I use BlackBoardCollaborate, also for work, and now PPT slides will not load into the class. I do not like BBC, Yahoo Msngr or PPT, but I am forced to use them for work and therefore I need them to function. 🙂

Again another completely obscure problem that Yosemite has created. Yahoo Messenger not functioning. I've looked through this thread and have counted at least a dozen different kinds of problems. Again why are the problems so unrelated, when they claim the version of Yosemite downloaded was exactly the same? I did a complete clean install using a pen drive, and now my time machine, is acting very bizarrely. I am completely unable to go past yesterday, in any of my favorites, All My Files, Documents, Airdrop, Documents, Applications. Uh, there kinda of necessary to access, after a clean install. I was only able to get them, by doing an old fashioned longwinded search of my backup drive. This is not why I purchased a Macintosh.

I have the same wish I would just like to get my MAC performing as it was since installing yosemite update it is slow and sluggish and like the PC I escaped from

I am quite happy to lose the new features

I have a late 2011 mac book pro with intel i5 2.4ghz

It there anyway to stop this slow down

Why do so many of my old applications no longer work with Yosemite? It's nearly random. Sometimes I can get Adobe Illustrator to open but most of the time it crashes. Firefox, Onyx, and several others too. Adobe doesn't support CS4 and the newest CC version is essentially a subscription service ($$$$$). I wish I had never installed Yosemite...it's the only time over the last 20 years I wish I had not "upgraded".

after about a month or so of an unusable computer- after upgrading to yosemite - problem after problem, mystery after mystery, I finally threw in the towl and erased my hard drive and reinstalled the OS. i had restored re-installed re- everything but this was the only way i knew how to kick whatever it was in the butt and start new. so far, its worked. I haven't triedmy bluetooth headphones yet and mail notifications still don't work when the program isn't running but other than that system-wise, things are running smoothly, i.e. "normal". the headaches, memory leakage, cpu usage boosts of 300% are gone. things "feel" as they should. two days ago was working with a computer that couldnt run safari with 3 open tabs and a movie playing at the same time. i don't know what happened but its a possible fix if you're fed up with everything and have all your past data backed up. good luck

I used your internet method and was able to restore Mavricks fine, but now I'm missing all my Apps such as iMovie, Garageband, iPhoto, Keynote, Numbers, Pages, They all came preinstalled on my Mac mini and when I go to the app store in the purchases tab it says they are all installed. how do I go about reinstalling them all, if anyone could help i would be very grateful.

I have never been so disappointed to own a Mac until upgrading to Yosemite and IOS 8. I seriously feel like a windows user again. Now I just expect my programs to work sporadically, my computer to be slow, and the tools that were once useful - now gone. Yosemite is Garbage. Does anybody have a better system? Oh, no? Well then it's re-install Mavericks.

Apple, just went I really enjoyed using a computer, you go and remind me just how bad it can be. At this point, cut your losses and re-provision Mavericks before you lose credibility.

Don't do it. Here is what happened when Greta at FOX did that:

Greta Van Susteren Verified account @greta

Now I am furious at #Apple; took laptop to store, removed Yosemite OS 10.10 since not allow me to get email, went back to the old OS and..(she said on her web site that she lost almost everything)

If you have a backup, then you don't lose anything. That is the only way to either upgrade, reinstall, take it in for service, etc as you don't know what will happen. In order to go backwards, the hard drive needs to be erased completely, so obviously, everything will be gone. With a backup, you can then simply restore all your stuff.

tofuhippo wrote:

I have never been so disappointed to own a Mac until upgrading to Yosemite and IOS 8. I seriously feel like a windows user again. Now I just expect my programs to work sporadically, my computer to be slow, and the tools that were once useful - now gone. Yosemite is Garbage. Does anybody have a better system? Oh, no? Well then it's re-install Mavericks.

Apple, just went I really enjoyed using a computer, you go and remind me just how bad it can be. At this point, cut your losses and re-provision Mavericks before you lose credibility.

Without knowing what Mac you have, even the basic specs, let alone what carper like antivirus etc. that you are running, or what incompatible software you have, then it really is a wasted comment/rant.

Try starting your own thread with proper details on your Mac and your issues.

Pete

babowa

in theory you are correct, but unfortunately putting files back is not so easy, when a Yosemite install stopped time machine from operating. My Time Machine works, but only from before the date, in which I installed Yosemite. I have all of my mails on my backup drive, and just restored my mail folder, along wt my V2 folder, Mail Lost+Found folder, & my SyncedFilesInfo.plist, manually and w/o using Time Machine. Unfortunately since my Time Machine will not operate, before the date that I installed Yosemite, how can I put these mail files back into my mail program? The mails are all there, but I just can't I am far from the only one experiencing problems using their Time Machine wt Yosemite. I had problems accessing time machine from day one, after I completed a completely fresh install. My Mac was like new, and I had to manually restore 'everything' by only using the backup drive. I'm sure it is possible to restore my mail, but unfortunately I don't know how to do it. As far as I know, that is the last item that needs to be restored, but I'm sure that other things will pop up in the future as well. Still if someone knows a way that I could restore my mail files, that would be extremely helpful.

Sorry, but I can't address any of the points in your post because I've chosen not to use Time Machine. I prefer a method that is bootable (without having to download the OS from Apple's servers) and can be tested immediately, so I have two clones of each OS I am running. That makes things extremely easy.