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  1. #1


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    Reverting back to Mavericks from Yosemite mid 2014 Macbook Pro Retina
    Hello I have a mid 2014 Macbook Pro with retina display which came with 10.9.4 or 10.9.5 Mavericks i forgot which one most likely 10.9.4. IT ran flawlessly I upgraded to Yosemite and its glitchy as hell! So I wanted to downgrade I downloaded Mavericks from the app store but its 10.9 i don't think its 10.9.5 it says i purchased it on the 24th but still. Either ways the question is can i install 10.9 on my computer? would it risk anything since the OS is older than my machine. Also is there anyway I can find a 10.9.4 mavericks os?

  2. #2

    chscag's Avatar
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    Yes, you can re-install Mavericks on your MacBook Pro but first you have to remove Yosemite. You can remove Yosemite by booting to the Recovery partition (hold down command plus r and restart). Once in Recovery, select Utilities, Disk Utility. Use Disk Utility to erase your Macintosh HD as that will remove Yosemite. You can then download Mavericks and install it. After Mavericks is installed, go to software update and update it to 10.9.5.

    Are you sure you want to do the above?

  3. #3

    milessthomas's Avatar
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    I would advise you to make sure you have a backup of your files from before you installed Yosemite. Following the process above will require you to wipe your hard drive. You will need a backup from before you updated to Yosemite to reinstall your apps otherwise they may have already been optimized for Yosemite if you've backed up since installing Yosemite.

    *For future reference Always back up an image of your hard drive before major OS upgrade

  4. #4


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    Quote Originally Posted by chscag View Post
    you can re-install Mavericks on your MacBook Pro but first you have to remove Yosemite. You can remove Yosemite by booting to the Recovery partition (hold down command plus r and restart). Once in Recovery, select Utilities, Disk Utility.
    If you have a Time Machine backup, it is much easier than the above. Once you get into Recovery, choose Restore from Time Machine. It worked perfectly for me in the same situation. 100% recovery of all settings and files.

    BTW - I think I got a "bad install" of Yosemite - and you probably did, too.
    I've been complaining to Apple for the past 6-7 years (via Apple.com/feedback) that the installer needs better error checking... I'll be trying Yosemite again soon.

  5. #5

    pigoo3's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by gsahli View Post
    If you have a Time Machine backup, it is much easier than the above. Once you get into Recovery, choose Restore from Time Machine. It worked perfectly for me in the same situation. 100% recovery of all settings and files.
    The OP is asking about downgrading from Yosemite to Mavericks. The situation you described…were you trying to downgrade the OS as well?

    I think that Time Machine only restores applications, files, and settings…it does not restore the OS or have the ability to downgrade to a previous version of the OS (as the OP is trying to do).

    In other words…if someone has a hard drive crash…and replaces the dead HD with a new blank HD…the OS needs to installed separately before a Time Machine backup can be used to restore things (the OS is not part of a Time Machine backup).

    - Nick
    - Too many "beachballs", read this: Beachballs
    - Computer seems slower than it used to? Read this for some slow computer tips: Speedup
    - Almost full hard drive? Some solutions. Out of Space
    - Apple Battery Info. Battery

  6. #6


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    Quote Originally Posted by chscag View Post
    Yes, you can re-install Mavericks on your MacBook Pro but first you have to remove Yosemite. You can remove Yosemite by booting to the Recovery partition (hold down command plus r and restart). Once in Recovery, select Utilities, Disk Utility. Use Disk Utility to erase your Macintosh HD as that will remove Yosemite. You can then download Mavericks and install it. After Mavericks is installed, go to software update and update it to 10.9.5.

    Are you sure you want to do the above?
    Will it cause glitches though because my macbook is newer than the OS provided. I read somewhere that it could happen and thanks.

  7. #7


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    Quote Originally Posted by gsahli View Post
    If you have a Time Machine backup, it is much easier than the above. Once you get into Recovery, choose Restore from Time Machine. It worked perfectly for me in the same situation. 100% recovery of all settings and files.

    BTW - I think I got a "bad install" of Yosemite - and you probably did, too.
    I've been complaining to Apple for the past 6-7 years (via Apple.com/feedback) that the installer needs better error checking... I'll be trying Yosemite again soon.
    I probably did get a bad install I mean my computer starts up faster and shuts down way faster when i upgraded to yosemite apps are like a millisecond faster if that counts but 4 times in a row my sound stopped working and I had to use the sudo command to restore it and my bluetooth in the menu went missing i had to re enable it to be on the menu bar again hence why I said glitchy as well you have a RMBP as well?

  8. #8


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    Quote Originally Posted by pigoo3 View Post
    The OP is asking about downgrading from Yosemite to Mavericks. The situation you described…were you trying to downgrade the OS as well?
    Yes - 5 days ago I Restored OS X Mavericks from my Time machine backup using Recovery partition from a poorly-functioning Yosemite install. Maybe this is a new feature?
    OS X: About OS X Recovery - Apple Support

    It recovered everything - a working, booting Mavericks install with all my apps, files, and preferences intact.
    I didn't do any migration assistant stuff!
    (this was a major boost in my confidence in Time Machine!)
    Last edited by gsahli; 11-03-2014 at 04:58 PM.

  9. #9

    chscag's Avatar
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    @gsahli:

    Did you wipe the Yosemite install before restoring from your Time Machine backup? The reason I ask is because Time Machine does not overwrite system files and kexts. If you removed the Yosemite install first, I can understand how it recovered Mavericks.

  10. #10

    pigoo3's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by gsahli View Post
    Yes - 5 days ago I Restored OS X Mavericks from my Time machine backup using Recovery partition from a poorly-functioning Yosemite install. Maybe this is a new feature?
    OS X: About OS X Recovery - Apple Support

    It recovered everything - a working, booting Mavericks install with all my apps, files, and preferences intact.
    I didn't do any migration assistant stuff!
    (this was a major boost in my confidence in Time Machine!)
    Maybe this is a new feature…or maybe an existing feature few folks take advantage of.

    What you did is sort of a two step process:

    1st Step: Reinstalled the OS via the Recovery Partition.
    2nd Step: Recovered/reinstalled apps., files, and settings from a previous Time Machine backup.

    What folks more frequently do is…just reinstall apps., files, and settings from a previous Time Machine backup (not reinstalling or downgrading the OS at the same time).

    From your perspective it may have seemed like one-step…but what's really happening is:

    - OS + Time Machine restore vs. just a Time Machine restore

    I should also mention…your computer may be newer…where Mavericks was it's original OS (OS that came with it when new). If this was an older computer that originally came with Lion or Mountain Lion…then Mavericks would not have been restored…but the older OS (this is mentioned in the link).

    Thus following this method it wouldn't have been a Yosemite to Mavericks downgrade…but maybe a Yosemite to Lion downgrade.

    - Nick
    - Too many "beachballs", read this: Beachballs
    - Computer seems slower than it used to? Read this for some slow computer tips: Speedup
    - Almost full hard drive? Some solutions. Out of Space
    - Apple Battery Info. Battery

  11. #11


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    Quote Originally Posted by chscag View Post
    @gsahli:

    Did you wipe the Yosemite install before restoring from your Time Machine backup? The reason I ask is because Time Machine does not overwrite system files and kexts. If you removed the Yosemite install first, I can understand how it recovered Mavericks.
    No - From running Yosemite, all I did was restart in Recovery, click on the "Restore from Time Machine" choice, and select the last Mavericks snapshot time to restore from. No other interaction required.
    (this is a late 2012 mini that shipped with Mountain Lion)
    I think this version of Restore may be a new feature. The About OS X Recovery page at Apple is new, by the way. Previous version didn't show the menu choices in the first paragraph.

    HTH

    more info- on Apple Discussions, several people asked the same questions you have - and several had the same success I had.
    Last edited by gsahli; 11-03-2014 at 05:52 PM.

  12. #12

    chscag's Avatar
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    OK, thanks. Apparently it is something new for Recovery. It appears it re-installed Mavericks while at the same time recovered all your data. Certainly more convenient than having to wipe the drive first.

    I always make a CCC backup before updating anyway, but being able to do a complete restore from Time Machine will certainly simplify the "going back" process for some folks. Now all we need to do is convince users to make a Time Machine backup.

  13. #13

    MacInWin's Avatar
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    I believe Time Machine DOES back up the OS, and has for a while. I've been told that several times and chastised here because I said it did not. You can restore to a totally new drive replacement as long as you can boot from something. Which is the reason for a bootable USB stick. Most of us go ahead and put the install files on the USB Stick just to save a download, but if you just boot from it and then do a full restore from a full TM Backup, you are good to go. it's not new, either, as this discussion took place with Mavericks about a year ago.

  14. #14

    chscag's Avatar
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    I'm not sure that's the case Jake. Take this scenario as an example:

    I have an older MacBook Pro running Mavericks. I purchase a brand new rMBP which is running Yosemite installed from the factory. As soon as I turn on that brand new rMBP the automatic Migration Assistant is going to ask me if I wish to restore data from another Mac.

    I reply yes and attach my Time Machine backup drive to the new rMBP. Time Machine restores all my data, documents, settings, and account from the older MacBook Pro to the new rMBP but does not restore Mavericks which the older machine was running.

    Why is that? I have done the above scenario at least 4 times in recent years from an older machine to a newer one and TM never restores the older operating system.

    That leaves me thinking that what it's doing now is different from what it did before.

  15. #15

    MacInWin's Avatar
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    I think it's because a OS already exists on the drive, and TM won't overwrite a newer installation. But on th older MB an Mavericks, if the drive is replaced with a new, virgin one, and it is then partitioned and formatted for Mac by booting from a USB stick to do that, then TM will restore EVERYTHING on the backup because there isn't any existing OS on the drive. At least that's what I was told when I made the same statement you just did, that TM doesn't restore the OS. I'll try to find that old post that corrected me to see who made it, but it was a while ago and may take some time to locate.

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