Make your Mac invincible
- With my system now working on OC 0.6.3, I created an OC Big Sur install USB, kicked off the install/upgrade, did the 3 or 4 reboots and that’s it. Successful Catalina/OC to Big Sur upgrade. So far everything but on-board Audio works, but that was also the case in Catalina.
- Download macOS Big Sur. If you're using macOS Mojave or later, get macOS Big Sur via Software Update: Choose Apple menu System Preferences, then click Software Update. Or use this link to open the macOS Big Sur page on the App Store: Get macOS Big Sur. Then click the Get button or iCloud download icon.
- Click Recover to get all lost files after macOS Big Sur downgrade back to your mac. No matter you want to downgrade from Big Sur to Catalina or Mojave without losing data, or just want to upgrade from an earlier version to the latest macOS, the backup process is mandatory in case of any data loss.
Searching for new instructions, would like to rollback to Catalina from Big Sur without having to do a fresh install, is this possible? Lots of issues with Big Sur (loss of many calendar features). All of my files are backed up to google drive just want to avoid re-setting system preferences and re-downloading files again. My suggestion, which is exactly what I did last night for a clean install: Install Catalina Download the Big Sur installer Create a USB installer If you have a T2 equipped Mac, make sure you set the startup security utility to allow booting from USB drives. Boot from Big Sur installer and install!
Recently switched to macOS 11 Big Sur? This means you’re in for some huge enhancements and a completely redesigned look. It's fair to say Big Sur is not a perfect fit for everyone, though. Can you go back to previous macOS if that's the case? Sure. In this article, we describe how to downgrade from macOS 11 and continue using your previous macOS without any data loss.
Toolkit for safe macOS downgrade
Easily switch between macOS versions with Setapp. Get access to the apps that will keep your Mac invincible and your data protected.
Before you make a decision to uninstall Big Sur, check out some common macOS 11 problems and fixes. Maybe, the problem that is hampering your flow is on the list — and you can easily solve it. Also, if your Mac runs macOS Big Sur beta, you should know the public version available starting November 12 fixes most of the problems.
If you go like 'All right, thanks, just tell me how do I uninstall Big Sur from my Mac' — fair enough. The good news is it's easy to roll back macOS update. Follow the guide below.
Install Catalina From Big Sur Free
How to downgrade from Big Sur step by step
Just to clarify the process a little bit, a downgrade from Big Sur covers five important steps — from backing up all the files you've acquired since upgrading, to restoring those on macOS Catalina. There are a few tools you'll need to use to downgrade safely: Primarily, a backup utility (Apple's native Time Machine or a more advanced third-party app like Get Backup Pro) and CleanMyMac X for keeping things tidy. Now when you're all set, let's get into it.
Best backup app for Mac
Before you roll back to the old macOS, create a secure backup of all your data with Get Backup Pro. So that there’s nothing to lose.
1. Backup your data (pretty please)
Even if you've just recently upgraded and haven’t managed to accumulate lots of data on macOS Big Sur, don’t skip this step. Downgrading means you erase everything from your hard drive. So whatever you’ve been working on since installing macOS 11 will be gone. Make sure you avoid the trouble and create a quick backup. You can do this with Time Machine, but we recommend Get Backup Pro for creating a bootable backup. This will give you an exact copy of your drive, with all saved settings — so that you can pick up where you left off.
Here’s how to back up data before you uninstall Big Sur:
Open Get Backup Pro from Setapp
Hit the plus button at the bottom to create a new backup
Name your backup project
Pick a backup destination and customize settings if necessary
Choose files, folders, and apps data you want to add to the backup
Hit Start.
It’s a good idea to use CleanMyMac X for a system cleanup before you create a backup. This way, you’ll avoid backing up unneeded files and duplicates, and therefore run a smooth and quick backup process. Plus, the app is generally a good tool to keep at your fingertips to remove any clutter. Believe me, your Mac has a lot of it. Here’s how CleanMyMac X works:
Open the app and hit Scan
Wait for CleanMyMac X to finish the scanning process
Hit Run if you want to remove all the junk, or Review if you want to select the files that should be deleted manually
That’s it! You’re all set for a clean backup.
2. Install macOS Catalina on a bootable drive
It might seem a bit counterintuitive, but you have to install macOS Catalina on an external drive before you erase Big Sur. This requires some Terminal work, which we’ll guide you through in a minute. Before that, make sure your Mac can boot from external media.
Allow booting from external media on new Macs
If you own a MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, or Mac mini with the T2 security chip (2018 models and newer), you might experience problems with booting files. To avoid this, you should allow booting from external media before you run downgrade to Catalina:
Restart your computer and boot in Recovery Mode (hold down Command + R once the Apple logo appears)
Access Utilities > Startup Security Utility
Enter your firmware password (note that this is the password you used to enable Startup Security Utility and it’s different from your admin and Apple ID credentials)
In External Boot, check the box next to “Allow booting from external media.”
Once you’re all set, it’s time to get Catalina back. First, download macOS Catalina from the Mac App Store, the usual way. While installers of the latest macOS versions are available only before the official release of the new one, you should do this as early as possible.
Then, install macOS Catalina on an external drive. Start with formatting the drive (you can skip this step if you have a formatted drive):
Get an external drive with minimum 12GB of free space
Connect it to your Mac via USB
Open Finder > Applications
Navigate to Utilities > Disk Utility
Click Erase next to your drive (make sure you name it if you have more than one)
Select APFS or macOS Extended format > Erase.
Install macOS Catalina on a formatted drive:
Open Finder > Applications
Launch Terminal from Utilities
Type the following command
sudo /Applications/Install macOS Catalina.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia--volume /Volumes/MyVolume
Note that “MyVolume” in the command above is the name of your drive, so you should change it accordingly.
Click Enter/Return
Confirm your action by entering the admin password > Y
Click Return
Once Terminal says “Done,” you can quit it and eject the hard drive.
3. Remove macOS 11 from hard drive
Now is the time for goodbye. Here’s how to downgrade from Big Sur to Catalina by removing macOS 11 from your hard drive:
Click on the Apple logo and select Restart from the menu
Hold down Command + R to reboot in Recovery mode
Open Disk Utility > Continue
Select your Startup Disk > Erase
Select APFS or macOS Extended format and confirm your action.
4. Reinstall macOS Catalina on your Mac
Empire total war mac download. Next thing, run a downgrade to Catalina by reinstalling it on Mac:
Make sure your Mac is connected to the internet
Connect your bootable external drive
Click on the Apple logo and select Restart from the menu
While your Mac restarts, hold down Option
Once the list of startup disk options appears, select the bootable drive with macOS Catalina installer
Hit Continue, agree to the licensing terms, and wait for macOS Catalina to reinstall.
5. Restore data from backup
The last step is to bring back all the data you’ve compiled since upgrading to Big Sur. Again, a backup is essential since it will help restore both your files and saved settings. You can restore everything with the same tool you’ve used previously to create a backup.
Here’s how to restore a Time Machine backup:
With your Mac connected to the internet, restart the system
Hold down Command + R to enter Recovery
Access Utilities > Restore from Time Machine Backup > Continue
Select the backup source > Continue
Select your backup > Continue
After Time Machine restores data from the backup, your Mac will reboot.
If you used Get Backup Pro for your backup, restoring data is even easier. All you have to do is launch the app, select your backup from the list, and hit Restore. Select a custom location for your files and once again click on the Restore button. That’s it. All your data and settings will be back on macOS Catalina in a minute.
That’s about it. Whenever you’re wondering how to go back to previous macOS, you can use the guide described above. All the instructions are pretty universal, except you should adjust the Terminal command when installing old macOS on a bootable drive.
In case your Mac is slowing down or else behaving strangely after the downgrade, we recommend to get iStat Menus for advanced system performance monitoring. This app will help you understand the source of the problem — whether it’s login items, network problems, or disk activity — and fix them accordingly.
iStat Menus is available on Setapp, along with the useful utilities like CleanMyMac X and Get Backup Pro. So you can use it all from one place for 7 days free. Hopefully, this toolkit will help you with how to downgrade macOS Big Sur, as well as keep your Mac in perfect shape, anytime.
Apple, one of the biggest tech giants worldwide, is popularly known for its efficient software and flawless hardware equipment. The regular updates, upgrades and patches make it almost trouble-free for its users. Still, this word almost is something which can, at times, create situations which are pretty much unpredictable and unprecedented. So recently Apple released the new macOS Big Sur which is the next big step after macOS Catalina. Though every version is tested thoroughly for bugs and issues, there is this “almost” chance that they may still creep in. If you are facing any such situation and don’t know when Apple will release a new patch, the best thing you can do is to downgrade or rollback to the previous macOS that you were working with. So in this article, I am going to share steps on how to downgrade macOS Big Sur to Catalina. Have a look:
Image Source: insider
Things you would need:
To downgrade from macOS Big Sur to macOS Catalina, there are some things or some precautionary steps that you should follow so that our rolling back of OS can be carried out smoothly without any kind of hitch. It will be like gathering condiments before you start cooking. What you will need:
1. An empty hard drive for backup or any cloud services like Google, Apple, Dropbox, etc.
2. A third party application for cleaning
3. Stable power connection
4. Stable Internet Connection
5. macOS Utilities
After you have gathered all that is needed, let’s move on to our first step.
1. Get rid of Junk files
Before we learn about how to downgrade from macOS Big Sur to macOS Catalina, we need to clean our Mac from junk files, folders, logs, cache, browser history, duplicate files, apps which are of no use or outdated, etc. This clean up is significant as it will help you to filter out files, folders and applications which are of no use to you before you backup your important files. If you start the backup even before you do this cleanup then not only you will have lots of useless files but will also have a lot less space for your essential data.
I would recommend you to download and install TuneUpMyMac. It is one of the best and most popular mac cleaners around the world. If you are looking for the best mac cleaner or an application to clean your Mac’s RAM, optimize performance and memory, clean junk files, etc. then look no further, as TuneUpMyMac is here to handle it all. So, in short, you will be able to resolve a lot of problems that your Mac may be surrounded with, with this single utility tool.
- Install it using the desired settings
- Launch it and click on scan to begin cleaning your Mac
After the scanning process has been completed, the program will show you a list of all concerning items that it found on your system and all that should be removed. You can also remove selected files if there are any you want to keep.
2. Create a Backup
You need to create a backup of all your files before you start downgrading the OS as it may corrupt or wipe out your existing files and other data. If there is any necessary data, then you stand at the risk of losing it, creating a backup helps protect against such situations.
Time Machine is macOS’ own backup software which comes embedded with Mac. You can use it to create automatic backups of files, folders, images, videos, and so much more. If you have not yet used Time Machine, then it may also be an excellent opportunity to learn about it.
1. On the upper left corner of your screen, you will see Apple company’s icon, click on it, and a list will appear.
2. In the list, look for system preferences and click on it.
3. This will open another window, select “Backup Disk” on it.
4. A list of backup options will appear in front of you. Select your preferred destination here.
5. Once you have selected the destination drive, click on “Use Disk”.
6. You can also secure your data through an encryption option here.
7. If this is your first time creating a backup, then do know that this process can take up even hours to complete but don’t worry, this happens only the first time and gets quite fast afterwards for subsequent backups.
3. Clean up your Mac’s internal storage
After you have cleaned the junk files and created a backup of all your important files, the next step in the process of downgrading macOS Big Sur would be to clear out all the data on the internal storage. To do this, you will have to reset your hard drive, and then we will use the Time Machine application again to regain all the data but on a downgraded OS. Okay so here is how you can proceed from here:
- Restart your computer
- When it is getting started again, you will have to hold down the Command + R buttons on your keyboard. It will command the system to launch the macOS Utilities.
- There will be a list, select the Disk Utility option from it.
- Click on continue, and then a new window will appear. Here you will find Startup Disk, click on it to select the option and then select Erase.
- Make sure you select the APFS(Apple File System) format and choose GUID Partition Map as you proceed.
Image Source: apple
- Now you will have to wait as the Mac formats and erases every shred of information from your storage unit. It may take some time according to the size of disks, speed, processing, etc.
Install Catalina On Big Sur Mac
4. Restore your Backup
If you had created the backup when you were still working with macOS Catalina, then this step will also restore your Catalina OS. But if you have not, then I would suggest you skip this step for now and go to step no. 5 and later return to step 4 again.
Now we will be restoring all files and data on your system, so before we get into the process, please attach your drive back to the system on which the backup is stored. Now,
- Reboot your Mac and again hold Command + R button on your keyboard to open up macOS Utilities again.
- In the Utilities window, click on “Restore from Time Machine Backup” option and then click on the “Continue” button.
- In the Time Machine window, select the disk which you used to create the backup disk or drive.
- If you have multiple backups, then you may see a list here, select the one version from which you want to restore from. In case you are unsure of the version, then you can restore the latest one that you created. It contains all your recent changes and settings.
- Now on the next screen, you will have to select all destination drive which in this case will be your internal storage that we erased in the previous step.
5. Install Older macOS
Now we will get to the part on how to downgrade from macOS Big Sur to macOS Catalina. If you don’t have any backup already created for Catalina, then you will have to go through this step; otherwise, Step 4 will be enough. Even if you didn’t create any OS backup don’t worry, you can install the older OS in this step. We will have to get hold of Catalina’s installer file which is specifically a bootable installer file.
- Open any web browser on your computer and log in to the App store.
- Search for the Catalina macOS in the search bar and click on the download
- You will need to install this installer on an external hard drive which has a minimum of 12 GB of space available to store the setup.
Image Source: osxdaily
- Now go to Applications then select Utilities and select Terminal.
- You will be needed to copy and paste this following command in the Terminal window:
sudo /Applications/Install macOS Catalina.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia –volume /Volumes/MyVolume
- The bootable installer file should be inside the Applications folder. MyVolume in the upper command is the name of your hard drive. You need to put the actual name of your drive in place of MyVolume.
- Terminal will give you further, and this process will end when the window gives you the “Done” option. After that, you can close Terminal and take your hard drive out.
Install Macos Catalina From Big Sur
6. Getting back on track
Install Catalina From Big Sur Torrent
You now have the bootable installer file in your hard drive; you can choose to install it anytime you want. Just follow the below steps.
- Plugin the installer drive in your Mac.
- Click on the Apple icon in the top left corner of the screen and select System Preferences. Then click on Startup Disk and then from the list, select the drive with the installer on it.
- The macOS should start the installation process. This installation will also need a good internet connection to install updates and other releases.
- In the macOS Utility window, you will see the option to install macOS, click on it.
- The setup will provide further information and instructions according to the system you are installing. Follow them and your mac will complete the installation and will restart at the end.
So these were the steps on how to downgrade from macOS Big Sur to macOS Catalina that I wanted to share with you. The whole process should proceed quite smoothly, but if you still face any kind of problems or issues, then you can contact Apple Support for any questions or solutions.
Hope it helps.
How To Downgrade Big Sur To Catalina
Thanks for reading!