Upgraded to Catalina before downgrading to Mojave...big troubles

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Upgraded to Catalina before downgrading to Mojave...big troubles

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I've created a mess of my 2012 Mini: I upgraded to Catalina from Yosemite or El Capitain and found my legacy Photoshop no longer worked, so decided to downgrade to Mojave, which I have on a laptop running said Photoshop. I created a Mojave install drive following found instructions and applied to Mac Mini.

Now, Mini with Mojave has seemingly partitioned itself with a Catalina drive and a Data drive running Mojave. The main Data drive no longer has my wife's user except in a "Previous Content" User's folder which I can't access.

I haven't been able to restore from Time Machine, which is on an Airport Time Capsule. I see there are 2 options- Mini.backupbundle & Mac mini.sparsebundle, which I believe 1 is newly created with Catalina or Mojave. The original back up does not seem accessible to restore. I also tried using Migration Assistant without success.

Ideally, if I can get Mini running Mojave with both users, perfect; otherwise I'll settle for Catalina or previous OS. Any help appreciated.

Mac mini, macOS 10.14

Posted on Dec 28, 2019 9:51 AM

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Answer 1

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Wilddrums

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4,274 points

Dec 28, 2019 10:11 AM in response to notflashbulb

It is the Catalina installation that modified the disk structure. Trying to install Mojave just made it obvious.

About the read-only system volume in macOS Catalina - Apple Support

Downgrade from Catalina to Mojave can then be tricky. Instructions to install Mojave from an install disk don't take in consideration that situation.

I can not give you details instructions. I will need to some experimentation. Maybe other community members can jump in.

Meanwhile I can suggest to secure all your critical data and files now (Backup). My best bet would be then to wipe out the two volumes and install from scratch Mojave, applications and restore data and files.

Hope that help,

WD

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Answer 2

notflashbulb Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 4, 2020 12:31 PM in response to Wilddrums

To follow up, I wiped the the mini and reinstalled from original Time Machine back up. BUT here's what I learned: when updating to Catalina, Time Machine back ups that are networked, like my Time Capsule, have their extensions changed from sparsebundle to backupbundle. This change is what initially prevented me from accessing TM back up; solution is to simply change the extension back to the original sparsebundle.

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Answer 3

Dec 28, 2019 1:27 PM in response to notflashbulb

I retreated from Catalina to Mojave because Catalina crashed every few hours. I am waiting to see if the Catalina problems get solved. Not yet, it seems.

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Answer 4

Wilddrums

Level 5

4,274 points

Jan 4, 2020 12:34 PM in response to notflashbulb

Thanks for the feedback.

Glad you sorted it out.

WD

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Upgraded to Catalina before downgrading to Mojave...big troubles

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