I'm on a 2019 iMac with Ventura. When I do a backup, will Time Machine also backup the OS or just the files and apps on my machine? I may want to revert back to Monterey and if I do this and then restore from TM, I don't want it to load Ventura back.
iMac 27″
Time Machine does not back up the operating system, but it will back up everything else unless you specifically Exclude files from the backup.
How well things will work if you try to restore to a Mac running an older operating system is open to question. In theory, things should work, but "should" is not the same word as 'will".
Let us know how things work out if you decide to try restoring to an older operating system.
Time Machine does not back up the operating system, but it will back up everything else unless you specifically Exclude files from the backup.
How well things will work if you try to restore to a Mac running an older operating system is open to question. In theory, things should work, but "should" is not the same word as 'will".
Let us know how things work out if you decide to try restoring to an older operating system.
Time Machine no longer backs up macOS itself. To restore an entire Time Machine backup, refer to Recover all your files from a Time Machine backup - Apple Support.
Step 2 addresses your specific concern. It has been that way since Catalina.
Good news. Thanks for for posting back.
From what I've seen so far, Ventura is working fine with Time Machine, but it seems to take significantly longer making a backup and significantly longer to display the backup files when you open Time Machine to take a look at the backup history. I think it might be because Time Machine is running a verification on the backup file before the backup actually begins.
Thanks for your replies! I was able to wipe the drive, install Monterey and perform a backup successfully. (I was having too many issues with Ventura.)
Timemachine Backup and Restore
