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Back to Mountain Lion

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Original poster
Mar 11, 2013
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Can anyone tell me step to step guide of installing Mountain Lion from Mavericks?
I tried downloading ML installation file from App Store and install it, but it gave me an error(obviously) and I was going over some threads and I got really confused when people just start throwing different solutions. I am sick and tired of Wi-Fi and Safari bug and I will be more than happy to wait until fall for official release.
By the way, I haven't done any backups.
 

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I guess you did not create a bootable clone of your OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion install before committing to OS X 10.9 Mavericks?
If so, you have to do a CLEAN INSTALL of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion using an OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion bootable installer via a USB flash memory thumb drive.


If you want to make a bootable installation medium, you can follow these steps:
 
simsaladimbamba said:
I guess you did not create a bootable clone of your OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion install before committing to OS X 10.9 Mavericks?
If so, you have to do a CLEAN INSTALL of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion using an OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion bootable installer via a USB flash memory thumb drive.


If you want to make a bootable installation medium, you can follow these steps:
Click to expand...

Will I lose all my files? Is the time machine backup possible before clean install?
 
Risco said:
Well that was stupid wasn't it? Anyway, make a time machine backup now. This will at least keep all your important files, you can then restore them after a clean install..
Click to expand...

But doesn't it compress my files in a time machine special file?
Which means I cannot use them on mountain lion?
 
I would have also gone back to mountain lion if they dropped the airplay mirroring feature.

But I was really impressed in the keynote video when they did the demo of airplay mirroring and even more impressed when I tried it out myself with mavericks. They have improved it with the extend desktop feature. It's really cool! So I don't want to go back to mountain lion. I'm keeping mavericks!
 
Create a backup in Time Machine. Clean Install Mountain Lion and then use Migration Assistance to transfer your apps and user data. I have done this several times with no issue. If you had a backup that has 10.8 on it, then you could restore from that. I really dig Time Machine.

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I suspect there may even be a way to do this without using time machine but I have not tested it yet. It involves partitioning the disk and creating a new HFS+ partition. Boot into recovery and install ML on newly created partition. Use Migration Assistance from the other partition and transfer user data. Then just use disk utility to re-size the disk to one volume and voila. I do not see why this wouldn't work but I have yet to try it.
 
Aylan said:
Create a backup in Time Machine. Clean Install Mountain Lion and then use Migration Assistance to transfer your apps and user data. I have done this several times with no issue. If you had a backup that has 10.8 on it, then you could restore from that. I really dig Time Machine.

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I suspect there may even be a way to do this without using time machine but I have not tested it yet. It involves partitioning the disk and creating a new HFS+ partition. Boot into recovery and install ML on newly created partition. Use Migration Assistance from the other partition and transfer user data. Then just use disk utility to re-size the disk to one volume and voila. I do not see why this wouldn't work but I have yet to try it.
Click to expand...

You really dig! So Migration Assistance works when downgrading without any issues? That's sick. So does Migration Assistance require a time machine?
Also, it would be awesome if someone tried the second method.
Btw, someone told me that internet recovery (command opton R when booting) might work. Do you think if I do this way, it would save all my file?
Sorry, too many questions.
 
Internet recovery may work too. I have never done it that way. I would assume that it would work since you'd have to erase the drive and re-install Mountain Lion. You will still need to have a backup to get your stuff back; I'd recommend backing up with time machine in ANY case. At the very least, you can recover your data through Migration Assistant or by navigating to the Backup folder in your TM drive and moving the files manually.

I am currently cleaning up my backups and installs, as soon as it is done I will attempt the re-size and install method. I will post results here.
 
Aylan said:
At the very least, you can recover your data through Migration Assistant or by navigating to the Backup folder in your TM drive and moving the files manually.
Click to expand...

What do you mean by this part? Are you saying that I may not even need a time machine backup?

Also, thank you so much for your interest in this subject.
 
No matter what you do, you will need a backup, no way around it. What I mean by this is that if you create a Time Machine backup now with Mavericks, you can then use any number of ways to re-isntall Mountain Lion (USB install image, internet recovery, etc) then use Migration Assistant to move files FROM your TM backup. Alternatively, once in ML, you can use the Finder to navigate to the backup folder in your TM drive to manually move your user files back to your ML installation.
 
Aylan said:
Internet recovery may work too. I have never done it that way. I would assume that it would work since you'd have to erase the drive and re-install Mountain Lion. You will still need to have a backup to get your stuff back; I'd recommend backing up with time machine in ANY case. At the very least, you can recover your data through Migration Assistant or by navigating to the Backup folder in your TM drive and moving the files manually.

I am currently cleaning up my backups and installs, as soon as it is done I will attempt the re-size and install method. I will post results here.
Click to expand...

Hello,
I was wondering if other recovery method had worked for you.
 
I haven't tried it yet. My drive and time machine backups are encrypted and that TM decryption is going to take all night. I also have to turn FileVault off on my boot drive so I can re-size the partition and install ML on it. I am hoping to do it sometime this weekend.
 
jykim0806 said:
Hello,
I was wondering if other recovery method had worked for you.
Click to expand...

I was able to use both methods to downgrade and re-install Mountain Lion. It is not particularly difficult but it does require some time.

The easiest way, by far, is to use a Time Machine backup. Just have a full backup under Mavericks and use that backup to restore the user data to a clean install of Mountain Lion. To do this you would have to do the following:

-Make a bootable USB install disk. Instructions are here : http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/07/how-to-create-a-bootable-backup-mountain-lion-install-disk/

-Restart the Mac using the newly created OS X USB Install Disk.

-Erase the hard drive and install OS X (the installer does a good job at guiding you through this, you also have a backup of Mavericks, so worse comes to worse you will always be able to revert back to Mavericks).

-Once the installation is complete, you will be given an opportunity to transfer your data through Migration Assistant at the setup screen, select that option from a Time Machine backup. You will be given a list of items to transfer such as Users, Applications, Documents, etc. Select your stuff and click continue, the process will take some time depending on how much data you have. Once this is complete you will have a clean install of Mountain Lion with all of your information and data restored.


Another option that you can try if you do not have a Time Machine backup is by resizing your hard drive, creating a new partition, installing Mountain Lion on that partition and then using Migration Assistant to restore your data from your other partition with Mavericks. Once you can confirm that everything is working okay, you can then go ahead and use disk utility under Mountain Lion to erase the Mavericks partition and resize your drive to one partition.This does not require a backup but I think it is a bit more risky; I would just use Time Machine for peace of mind. Also, this option requires that you can make a new partition on your existing hard drive that is AT LEAST as big as your Mavericks partition since you will be copying all your data from one partition to another, depending on your hard drive size, this may or may not be an option.
 
satcomer said:
Learn from your rookie mistake and get a backup. This goes for all you Windows users also!

If you really think about this you have no body to blame but yourself.
Click to expand...

It goes for anyone regardless of platform. Making a backup is essential and not doing so is downright dumb. Sometimes I wish MR would put a giant banner on the Apple Hardware page saying "MAKE A BACKUP"
 
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