I installed Mac OS Mojave on the wrong partition. How do I go back?

Hey there,


In the past, I had messed up when trying to format my iMac Retina 5K Late 2014 and ended up with 2 different partitions for the two drives that are in the computer (one for the SSD, one for the HD) instead of 1 fusion drive. I installed Mac OS on the SSD, alongside my apps, etc, and was using the bigger HD for the rest of my files.


Yesterday, I wanted to install Mojave. The install selected by default the HD instead of the SSD as the disk for the installation, and I didn't think twice and pressed next. Once the installation was finished, it asked me to create a password, etc and that's when I realized my mistake. I now have two installs of Mac OS on two different partitions.


What should I do? I see two options:
- Backing up all my files to some external hard drives, and re-formating everything to have the original iMac setup (with a single fusion drive instead of 2 partitions for each drive). Then re-installing Mojave. I have no idea how to do all of that.

- Finding a way to boot on my SSD partition with High Sierra, where I have all of my apps and files, and erase the HD partition that has Mojave on it. Then install Mojave on the SSD. Not sure how to do that either.

iMac, macOS Mojave (10.14)

Posted on Oct 11, 2018 10:15 AM

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Posted on Oct 11, 2018 2:52 PM

I would recomend making a backup of all the files you want to keep. Or do a time machine backup of the mac install you want to keep.

How to back up your Mac - Official Apple Support


Then follow this article to fix split fusion drive: /erases everything on both drives)

How to fix a split Fusion Drive - Apple Support




More info about fusion drive:

About Fusion Drive, a storage option for some Mac computers - Apple Support

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 11, 2018 2:52 PM in response to christophe115

I would recomend making a backup of all the files you want to keep. Or do a time machine backup of the mac install you want to keep.

How to back up your Mac - Official Apple Support


Then follow this article to fix split fusion drive: /erases everything on both drives)

How to fix a split Fusion Drive - Apple Support




More info about fusion drive:

About Fusion Drive, a storage option for some Mac computers - Apple Support

Oct 11, 2018 12:02 PM in response to Androish

Thanks for the reply!


I'm trying to backup the files that I'd like to keep. I'm running into an issue where the user folder that I used on my High Sierra partition appears locked, and I can't access its contents. If I try to login as root in the terminal, it won't take my password, which I imagine is because it's two different OSs?


How can I boot into my High Sierra so I can backup those files?

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I installed Mac OS Mojave on the wrong partition. How do I go back?

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