How to go back to Mojave from Catalina

1. Back up you data, if you haven't backup yet.
2. Download Mojave installer: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210190
3. Make bootable installer (USB stick): https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372
4. Erase your disk: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208496
5. Start installation from USB media with bootable installer of Mojave: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904
6. Or install macOS via Internet (recovering macOS that came with your Mac): https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250603651

Like a million other people you have upgraded your OS to Catalina and why not. We all like the new features of new OS's and some benefits they my bring; But Oh dear, lots of things don't work like they did before. It's not what you did that was wrong, it's what you didn't do. Never upgrade an OS unless you have the install discs or bootable USB to reinstall it again.

I upgraded or rather installed Catalina but I installed it on another partition on my HD. I install or transfer apps, from my Mojave drive onto my Catalina drive. I can now test any app, for functionality and compatibility. If there are issues they can be sorted but I can still rely on Mojave to get on with what I need to do. When and if you finally get Catalina to work for you, you can trash Mojave or even install an earlier OS if your computer will take it. There are many older apps, that you may want to use or just use the space as a data storage. I would recommend keeping both OS's but please consider partitioning with two maybe three partitions. Do not rely on time machine, it may work for you in some circumstances but many people find it is more trouble than it's worth. If you follow this theory you will love your Mac more than your family, (just kidding).

Think about it, the versatility is endless and you may end up with five OS's as I have on one of my iMacs. The things I can do are endless.

Good luck and long live Mac computers.

Personally I would fix the issues before reverting but here you go: Revert your Mac to a previous macOS version - Apple Support

This is something I used to do all the time but two years ago I decided it would be better to keep the previous OS on an external drive rather than on a partition of the internal drive. A good USB 3 external drive is more than fast enough to be a boot drive. In fact, an SSD in a USB 3 enclosure is faster than a 7200 RPM internal drive.

I strongly recommend the enclosures and drives from macsales.com -> the prices are a bit higher than what you'd find at a discount chain but the quality is much much higher. Up until 10 months ago I was using a pair of enclosures I bought from them almost 10 years ago!

Personally, I've been wishing Apple had dealt with the "issues" before releasing the "upgrade." As a 30 yr MacAddict I've never seen such a buggy "upgrade." I'm handicapped and they've completely destroyed dictation and made networking a leg working situation (restarts). The iTunes trilogy is a tragic comedy!

This new Catalina is horrible. It’s telling me files were placed in a security folder that were not compatible with the update. I am not a computer person so this is very hard for me to fix. Can’t I just go back to my previous version of OS ? I can’t find the folder they are referring too. Help

Until now I don't see any answer to the question "How to go back to Mojave from Catalina" .

I tried to help a friend who installed the upgrade to Catalina in the beginning of November.

His time machine stopped working since that time. He has many problems with older programs. There is no bootable external device with Mojave.

Perhaps I could make a bootable USB-stick on my iBook with Mojave? But how?

And would this work on my friends iMac?

Half of my apps got knocked out after installing Catalina. I want to restore Mojave, how do I do that,

Flynomo wrote:

Half of my apps got knocked out after installing Catalina. I want to restore Mojave, how do I do that,

Read my reply above.

How do I partition my iMac to use Mojave and Catalina in order to use apps that only operate on Mojave? Please help.

Thanks!!

I did answer this back in Dec 2019. Scroll up to the previous post of Logic 79. If you need more information, just ask.