I will be receiving a new Imac soon (27" retina). I have a Mac mini running Yosemite which has been backed up and I will be uploading this back up to the new Imac. I assume this erases El Capitan and substitutes Yosemite? Is there a way to get El Capitan back?
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New Imac restoring from old one
- Thread starter tonykriegmaui
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It depends on how you transfer the old to the new. I would recommend using the Migration Assistant app to move your data and preferences without replacing the OS.
See these Apple instructions: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204350
No, you can not erase El Capitan and replace it with Yosemite. Firmware will never allow an older version of OS X to replace what was originally installed. Just use the automatic Migration Assistant which will appear the first time you turn on your new iMac. If you have a Time Machine backup of the Mini you can use that to migrate to the iMac. Just do not create an account on the new iMac before using the Migration Assistant or you may wind up with two accounts and data scattered between them. If you do the migration correctly, everything will be moved including your account, passwords, data, documents, etc. And the MA is smart enough to know that El Capitan is the latest version of OS X which means no system files or kexts will be overwritten.