Hello guys! I have a macbook pro 2015 and I want to downgrade to El Capitan using Internet Recovery...Can the OS X El Capitan boot disk format the apfs drive to mac os jurnaled? Would I have any bad experience?
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Is it possible to downgrade High Sierra to El Capitan?
- Thread starter robert1998
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I did this with a USB stick with the Sierra Installer. First use the Disk Utility to reformat (erase) the APFS High Sierra disk, then do a standard Sierra installation. While I haven't tested this with El Capitan, I guess that the procedure should be similar.
As whg suggested, you first need to create a bootable USB installer for El Cap.
I suggest using the free little app called "Boot Buddy".
A 16gb flashdrive will do, you could try 8gb.
IMPORTANT QUESTION:
What is your backup situation?
I'm not a Time Machine user, I have no idea whether it's possible to restore from a "newer" TM backup to a Mac with an older version of the OS.
There's a better way.
If you have stuff you want to save on the drive (running High Sierra) right now, your best solution would be:
1. Download CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper (both are free to download and use for 30 days)
2. Create a cloned backup of your internal drive on an external drive.
3. Set that aside for the moment.
Now...
1. Boot from the USB flashdrive installer
2. DO NOT run the installer yet, just quit it, then...
3. Open Disk Utility and erase the internal drive to HFS+ with journaling enabled. NUKE IT BACK TO ZERO
4. NOW re-open the installer and install a fresh copy of El Cap
5. When the install is done, setup assistant may ask if you wish to migrate apps and data
6. At this point I would connect the cloned backup, and see if SA could bring over apps, data, accounts
It -might- work, at least for some stuff.
7. If Setup Assistant won't bring things over, then you'll have to do a "manual migration and reconstruction".
IMPORTANT:
If you bring things over manually, you MUST do this first to avoid permissions problems:
1. Mount the external cloned backup but don't open it
2. Click ONE TIME on the icon, then type command-i (eye) to bring up :"get info"
3. Click the lock icon at the bottom of get info and enter your password
4. Put a checkmark into "ignore ownership on this volume" (sharing and permissions)
5. Close get info
Now you can copy anything you want and it will "come under the ownership" of your new account.
A lot of work?
YES. Because you didn't take the time to create a bootable cloned backup BEFORE you upgraded.
But... it's the only way to really "get back to where you once belonged" ...
I suggest using the free little app called "Boot Buddy".
A 16gb flashdrive will do, you could try 8gb.
IMPORTANT QUESTION:
What is your backup situation?
I'm not a Time Machine user, I have no idea whether it's possible to restore from a "newer" TM backup to a Mac with an older version of the OS.
There's a better way.
If you have stuff you want to save on the drive (running High Sierra) right now, your best solution would be:
1. Download CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper (both are free to download and use for 30 days)
2. Create a cloned backup of your internal drive on an external drive.
3. Set that aside for the moment.
Now...
1. Boot from the USB flashdrive installer
2. DO NOT run the installer yet, just quit it, then...
3. Open Disk Utility and erase the internal drive to HFS+ with journaling enabled. NUKE IT BACK TO ZERO
4. NOW re-open the installer and install a fresh copy of El Cap
5. When the install is done, setup assistant may ask if you wish to migrate apps and data
6. At this point I would connect the cloned backup, and see if SA could bring over apps, data, accounts
It -might- work, at least for some stuff.
7. If Setup Assistant won't bring things over, then you'll have to do a "manual migration and reconstruction".
IMPORTANT:
If you bring things over manually, you MUST do this first to avoid permissions problems:
1. Mount the external cloned backup but don't open it
2. Click ONE TIME on the icon, then type command-i (eye) to bring up :"get info"
3. Click the lock icon at the bottom of get info and enter your password
4. Put a checkmark into "ignore ownership on this volume" (sharing and permissions)
5. Close get info
Now you can copy anything you want and it will "come under the ownership" of your new account.
A lot of work?
YES. Because you didn't take the time to create a bootable cloned backup BEFORE you upgraded.
But... it's the only way to really "get back to where you once belonged" ...
You mean downgrade (with all your current data)?
Or Factory reset (back to factory OS without any personal data)?
Internet recovery was decided to allow you to restore to the factory delivered OS version. Some said it's now updated to only allow you to install the latest OS. If that's the case, then obviously you cannot "downgrade" via internet recovery.
But if you can see the "reinstall OS" logo still the El Capitan logo, not HS logo. Then it should allow you to downgrade.
In any case, unless you simple do a full recover from Time Machine. I personally won't recommend anyone to downgrade. As per the above posts. Even you can downgrade the system, and have full backup, something like Photos database cannot be used in the older OS, which can create lots of trouble.
On the other hand, if you have Time Machine full backup, then it's easy. Just boot into revery, format the hard drive to HFS+ (it should allow you to remove everything related to APFS and create a HFS+ partition), then perform the "Restore from TM backup" inside recovery partition (of course, pick a snap shot that the system was still El Captain is required).
But if all you want is just "factory reset", and the internet provide you the options to reinstall El Captain. Then yes, you can simply boot into Internet Recovery, format the hard drive, and then reinstall El Capitan.