Downgrade OS's... possible?

[Newber]

Is it possible to downgrade OS's without having to loose any files? I'm really mad that I didn't catch this earlier about Leopard (see my other threads).
Does anyone know of a way to do it? If so, I would be greatful thank you.

[DeltaMac]

The best way back is to wipe your hard drive, and reinstall Tiger from scratch. All your docs, music, pictures, etc, will be lost unless you back up first.
You can also try reinstalling Tiger, using the Option to Archive & Install, but some of the Leopard apps and utilities will remain in place, and will not be usable with Tiger.
Be warned that Virtual PC, even if you get it to work, is not virtualization, but is emulation - The Windows PC is totally created in software. The result is very poor performance. Games or Windows apps that require good use of video and the processor, will be almost unusable. The processor that is emulated is approximately a 233 MHz Pentium 4, IIRC.
Bottom line is: are you sure you want to try this? (that is, go back just so you can use a very poor performing version of Windows)

[Lt Major Burns]

Originally Posted by Newber

Is it possible to downgrade OS's without having to loose any files? I'm really mad that I didn't catch this earlier about Leopard (see my other threads).
Does anyone know of a way to do it? If so, I would be greatful thank you.

unfortunately not. Mac OS only allows you to upgrade, not downgrade. to go backwards, you need to do a clean install (wipe and start over) or an archive install (archiving your previous installation in a separate folder before installing a new one).

[Newber]

Originally Posted by Lt Major Burns

unfortunately not. Mac OS only allows you to upgrade, not downgrade. to go backwards, you need to do a clean install (wipe and start over) or an archive install (archiving your previous installation in a separate folder before installing a new one).

I'm planning on buying a tera external, but it's not till a while from now, would it effect the my external if when I partition it, I install different OS's on it? I just want, thinking of spicing in Windows and Mac on one HD.

Originally Posted by DeltaMac

The best way back is to wipe your hard drive, and reinstall Tiger from scratch. All your docs, music, pictures, etc, will be lost unless you back up first.
You can also try reinstalling Tiger, using the Option to Archive & Install, but some of the Leopard apps and utilities will remain in place, and will not be usable with Tiger.
Be warned that Virtual PC, even if you get it to work, is not virtualization, but is emulation - The Windows PC is totally created in software. The result is very poor performance. Games or Windows apps that require good use of video and the processor, will be almost unusable. The processor that is emulated is approximately a 233 MHz Pentium 4, IIRC.
Bottom line is: are you sure you want to try this? (that is, go back just so you can use a very poor performing version of Windows)

I don't really need all the video, just simple things (practially DOS work in a sense). Main thing I need is for the internet to work and for me to see some things off of a website.

[MisterMe]

Originally Posted by Newber

Is it possible to downgrade OS's without having to loose any files? ...

This depends. It is not [usually] possible to downgrade to an OS that is older than the one that shipped on your Mac. If your Mac shipped with Leopard, then you cannot downgrade to Tiger. If you have an Intel Mac that shipped with Tiger, then you must use your System Restore disc to downgrade your OS to Tiger.

[Newber]

I've decided to do a back up and then do a clean sweep of the hd. I found the Tiger discs, hopefully all goes well this time round. Thank guys.