If I go back to Lion from Mountain Lion, Can I go back to ML after?

So, I got my 2012 Air with Lion, did a back up and upgraded to ML. I've had it since release and my laptop runs a LOT hotter now and the battery life is much worse. As I have an Android phone and not an iPhone, half the new feature in ML are made redundant to me. This combination has made me want to return to Lion. However, I assume there will be fixes for the high temp and lower battery life down the line, so I was wondering, if I was to return to Lion now, could I go back to ML later when there have been fixes? I also have made a back up of ML.
Any thanks or advice is greatly appreciated by a OS X noob!

Welcome to Apple Communities
To install Mountain Lion, open App Store > Purchases and download 10.8. To install Lion, press Command, Option and R keys in boot, erase the disk and reinstall

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HT1338 How to go back to lion from mountain lion????

Plese explian, How to go back to lion from mountain lion?

Time Machine does not provide bootable backups. Therefore, this is not the solution.
If you bought Lion, you should be able to re-download it from the Mac App Store. (Sadly, Apple pulled the ability to actually buy Lion off the store). You should be booted to another volume other than the one you will be installing to. You may have to disable the installation on the disk you wish to move back to Lion. I'm not certain, but suspect that trashing the ML System folder would do the job. The Installer will probably notice the missing OS and allow the Lion install. If not, then you'd have to go to the root directory of that volume, make invisible files visible and trash the 'Kernel' files and try again to install Lion.
Ideally you can use the Time Machine backup to restore just about everything else. But you may find everything works fine after the install.
I beta tested 10.8 Mountain Lion and know that it had a couple remaining bugs upon release. That's what updates are for. I expect there will be a rapid release of 10.8.1 update via the Mac App Store. It may well be worth hanging in there with 10.8. It is most definitely an IMPROVEMENT over Lion, whose Finder bugs I absolutely hate. (But that problem may soon be solved with the 10.7.5 update coming soon).
If you look around the net you'll find there are instructions for creating a bootable Lion installer DVD or USB thumb drive as long as you have the Lion Installer on a hard drive. Here are a couple with illustrations:
http://osxdaily.com/2011/06/21/mac-os-x-lion-clean-install-explained/
http://mashable.com/2011/07/20/lion-clean-install-guide/

HT4718 Hi. Has anyone sucessfully reverted back to Lion from Mountain Lion? Was there anything i need to be aware of? Thanks

The only program i really use is M-Audio Torq Connectiv for djing. Now i've updated to mountain lion this software/hardware no longer works. M-audio arent updating this particular software so i need to revert back to lion....help!!

You can't use the Mountain Lion altered TimeMachine drive with a older operating system version, your files are trapped.
You first need to get back to Mountain Lion, and restore from TimeMachine so you have access to your files.
Next you dig through your files and get to portions that are neutral file formats, like .jpg, mp3, .gif, text, doc etc., and that will work across nearly all computers and operating system versions. You basically want to get your files/data out of proprietary 10.8 program only versions and into something you can manage importing into older versions of programs on the older operating system.
Once that is completed you want to copy all this to a external drive, if you work with Windows, take the new external drive to the oldest Windows machine and right click and format exFAT. If it's a XP machine, there is a free exFAT download from Microsoft to install and reboot first. This way you have the most compatible format for your files possible. The Mac formats exFAT incorrectly and will not work with PC's. If your never going to work with PC's you can format the drive GUID /OS X Extended Journaled in Apple's Disk Utlity. Don't format MBR/MSDOS as that has a 4GB file size limit. Don't format NTFS as Mac's can't write to that.
Once you have all your files off the machine and the external drive disconnected, your now ready to revert back to a older OS X version.
If you originally had Snow Leopard on the machine, then that's the disks you want, even if the machine came with 10.5 or earlier.
How to erase and install Snow Leopard 10.6
Once that is installed, you Software Update fully to 10.6.8 where AppStore appears and you can reinstall 10.7, if it's not there or you upgraded directly to 10.8, then call Apple and order 10.7 and they will send it to you online.
Once your on 10.7 then install your apps and then access your basic files from the storage drive.
The 10.8 TimeMachine drive will somehow have to be erased so it can be setup to be used with 10.7 again, not sure how to go about this as I don't use it, it's terribly limiting for my needs.
If you used a bootable clone for backup of 10.8, you could have avoided all this mess because cloned drives are directly accessible to get at the files from nearly any operating system, unlike TimeMachine which is designed to trap and only move forward with OS X upgrades.
Most commonly used backup methods

How to go back to os x lion from mountain lion

os x mountain lion made my macbook pro very slow since i downloaded, how do i go back to os x lion, it is not showing in my purchases. my macbook used to be a pleasure to use before that! :-(

Did your machine come with Lion originally?
If so, you can do it - if not, you can't without a full backup. NOTE: Backup all your files first as you will need to fully erase your drive.
You can use internet recovery (Command + Option + R during restart) to access Apple's servers. Once connected, go to Disk Utility to erase your drive and it will then automatically reinstall the original OS.

How can I switch back to OS X Lion from Mountain lion?

I have a Native Instruments Traktor Kontrol S4, and it stopped working after upgrading to Mountain Lion. Instead of music coming out of the speakers, it is a repetetive crackling noice and the track stops and goes. I just want to downgrade so I don't have to worry about the problem until they come out with an update. I have a performance coming up and I need everything to work! Thanks.

Actually you are right, i ll stay on Mountain Lion. I have a problem with AppStore here is the link of my problem i post it a few minute ago.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4276037?tstart=0
I hope that someone can help me to fix it

Can I revert to Lion from Mountain Lion from Time Machine?

I rushed and downloaded/installed Mountain Lion yesterday, but it's quite buggy for me. This is the first time that I upgrade and am having issues - for instance, the MacBook Pro crashes every time I close the MacBook to put it to sleep - when I open the lid, the system is crashed and needs to reboot. I don't like this at all. This, combined with a bunch of things that I used quite often (like sorting the Documents folder by date - not available anymore, the time left on battery indicator, Office for Mac is now buggy and I am having issues when I type in Outlook, etc), convinced me to try to revert to Lion.
Before upgrading I backed up to Time Machine, and haven't backed up since - which means that the newest backup on Time Machine was done on Lion. I want to restore from Time Machine to go back to Lion. Will I be able to do this, or will I run in any issues? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated - thank you!
Corina

I rushed and downloaded/installed Mountain Lion yesterday, but it's quite buggy for me. This is the first time that I upgrade and am having issues - for instance, the MacBook Pro crashes every time I close the MacBook to put it to sleep - when I open the lid, the system is crashed and needs to reboot. I don't like this at all. This, combined with a bunch of things that I used quite often (like sorting the Documents folder by date - not available anymore, the time left on battery indicator, Office for Mac is now buggy and I am having issues when I type in Outlook, etc), convinced me to try to revert to Lion.
Before upgrading I backed up to Time Machine, and haven't backed up since - which means that the newest backup on Time Machine was done on Lion. I want to restore from Time Machine to go back to Lion. Will I be able to do this, or will I run in any issues? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated - thank you!
Corina

Clean instal Mountain Lion - from mountain lion

Hi all,
I have upgraded my OS 10.6.8 to the last version of Mountain Lion but my computer seems really slow. I used Onyx to clean and try to optimize it but still looks quite slow.. I would like to make a clean instalation to get rid of everything and start back with brand new OS and clean disk.
I have seen some conversation to use a DVD or USB key to do that but it seems it should be done from my previous OS..
Your help is much appreciated ;-)
Thanks

So there is no need to mount it on an USB key than? Everything will be done via internnet so donwloading again (I just finished downloading for the 2nd time) i suppose.
Starting back from this recovery partition, it says "keeping your files and user settings intact", would this anyway clear everything else (any programes, any left register modifications from erased progs, etc)?.
I did a complete back up for all my data so I am ready to erase everything left on the main disk.
Thanks both for your quick answer!!

I want to Update to Lion from Mountain Lion. How many extra GB's will this require to upgrade?

Or, like a previous upgrade, will this result in a smaller size?

Apple - OS X Mountain Lion - Read the technical specifications.

How to download Lion from Mountain Lion

As I see I have a specific problem. On my old MacBook White (4.1) I have installed Leopard. On MacBook Air I have Mountain Lion, and on iMac I had Snow Leopard and then bought Lion, and I recently upgraded it to Mountain Lion. So… my problem is that I can’t download and install Lion on my MacBook White. It is too old for Mountain Lion and since I have Mountain Lion on iMac and MacBook Air App Store don’t want to download Lion. I have Download button but can’t download it. Since I already paid for this product I don’t see any reason why I couldn’t download it again.

In your iMac:
1. Do a Time Machine backup
2. Open Terminal and write:
cd /
sudo nano /System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist
3. Open Finder, select Go > Go to Folder, write /System/Library/CoreServices and copy SystemVersion.plist to another folder
4. Go to Terminal. You will see the file, and you have to change the text with the bold words:
?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs$
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
        <key>ProductBuildVersion</key>
        <string>11E53</string>
        <key>ProductCopyright</key>
        <string>1983-2012 Apple Inc.</string>
        <key>ProductName</key>
        <string>Mac OS X</string>
        <key>ProductUserVisibleVersion</key>
        <string>10.7.4</string>
        <key>ProductVersion</key>
        <string>10.7.4</string>
</dict>
</plist>
5. Press Control and X keys and save that file
6. Open App Store > Purchases and download Lion
7. Open Finder, select Go > Go to Folder, write /System/Library/CoreServices and move the SystemVersion.plist that you copied to this folder
8. http://blog.gete.net/ldm/Lion_DiskMaker2.0.1.zip
It's very dangerous and only do it at your risk. I don't recommend this

Is there any way to get back my data if I had not restored it from time machine before reinstalling Mac OS X on my comp from utility. PS - My OS version has downgraded from Mountain Lion to Mac OS X 10.75 . Pls. help

Is there any way to get back my data if I had not restored it from time machine before reinstalling Mac OS X on my comp from utility. PS - My OS version has downgraded from Mountain Lion to Mac OS X 10.75 . Pls. help

Look at the blue box on this link:
http://pondini.org/TM/19.html
Ciao.

I recently downgraded from Mountain Lion back to Snow Leopard and I forgot to export my bookmarks.

Unfortunately downgrading from Mountain Lion back to Snow Leopard means I need to wipe the hard drive and install everything from scratch. That takes hours, and I've already done the bulk of the work, twice actually since I forgot to back up my photos in Iphoto and had to start over from my Time Machine backup of Mountain Lion.
Anyhow, I am curious as to whether or not there is a way to retrieve my bookmarks from the Time Machine backup and get them onto my downgraded OS, or will I have to start all over again, restore my system to Mountain Lion and go through the hours it takes to get back to Snow Leopard.

You're missing the point. If you didn't make the /username/Library/ folder visible, then it's hidden on the TM backup. Getting to ii is beyond my ken. However, Pondini's TM FAQs might have info on that madness.

If I were to drag and drop files from an OSX 9 onto an external hard drive (1 TB), assuming there is still plenty of space left, will I be able to use this same external hard drive to back up my iMac (Mountain Lion)?

If I were to drag and drop files from an OSX 9 onto an external hard drive (1 TB), assuming there is still plenty of space left, will I be able to use this same external hard drive to back up my iMac (Mountain Lion)? And would it ask me if I want to initialize (thus erasing it) or eject the hard drive like the OSX 9 did?

I was trying to follow this thread because I was curious about the OS 9 installation - until I realized you have another thread going about the very same subject, albeit with a different subject line.
FWIW: it is best not to double post - things get far too confusing after a while.
@ Kappy (in case you hadn't seen the other one):
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5054178?tstart=0

IMac CPU3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 8GB, Extremely slow and repeatedly "out of Memory" since migration from Mountain Lion to Mavericks

Dear Apple Support Community.
As mentioned by a number of users reporting the same problem, my 2009 iMac CPU3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 8GB RAM, has become extremely slow and repeatedly "out of Memory" since it was migrated from Mountain Lion to Mavericks (OS 10.9 then OS 10.9.1).
I have already run CleanMyMac, deleted 5GB of useless stuffs, which did not translate into any improvement. Following the advices collected in other Apple Support Community threads, I have applied EtreCheck the outcome of which is provided below.
For information, I have also upgraded my 2011 MacBook CPU2.3 GHz Core i7, 8GB which became only a bit slower than before, sometimes freezing which it almost never did before. However, I am used to the fact that Mac get usually slower and more prompt fo freeze after upgrading to a more recent OS.
Both my 2009 iMac and my 2011 MacBook have F-Secure installed. So the problem with the 2009 IMac is unlikly to be due to the presence of F-Secure. Interestingly, the few abnormalities found by Etrecheck were exacly identical before I ran CleanMyMac. There are two more findings (mentioned below) since I ran CleanMyMac on the 2009 iMac, which again didn't improve the problem.
So please find below the details of the EtreCheck experience and some additional measurements made with iStat while running EtreCheck:
Hardware Information:
iMac (24-inch, Early 2009)
iMac - model: iMac9,1
1 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU: 2 cores
8 GB RAM
Video Information:
ATI Radeon HD 4850 - VRAM: 512 MB
Audio Plug-ins:
BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.9
AirPlay: Version: 1.9 - SDK 10.9
AppleAVBAudio: Version: 2.0.0 - SDK 10.9
iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3 - SDK 10.9
System Software:
OS X 10.9.1 (13B42) - Uptime: 0 days 2:40:57
Disk Information:
WDC WD1001FALS-40K1B0 disk0 : (1 TB)
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
XooS5 HD (disk0s2) /: 999.35 GB (189.85 GB free)
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB
OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5670S
USB Information:
Apple Inc. Built-in iSight
Canon CanoScan
Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
FireWire Information:
WD My Passport 071D 800mbit - 800mbit max
EFI (disk1s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
disk1s2 (disk1s2) <not mounted>: 2 TB
Boot OS X (disk1s3) <not mounted>: 134.2 MB
Thunderbolt Information:
Kernel Extensions:
com.f-secure.kext.fsauth          (1.0.0d1)
Problem System Launch Daemons:
[failed] com.apple.wdhelper.plist [REMARK: this abnormality appeared only after running CleanMyMac. It does not appear on my 2011 MacBook]
Problem System Launch Agents:
Launch Daemons:
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist
[invalid] com.bjango.istatlocaldaemon.plist [REMARK: this abnormality pre-existed to running CleanMyMac. It appears also on my 2011 MacBook]
[loaded] com.f-secure.fsavd.dbhelper.plist
[loaded] com.f-secure.fsavd.plist
[loaded] com.f-secure.fsmac.firewall.plist
[loaded] com.f-secure.fsmac.fsupdated_guts2.plist
[loaded] com.f-secure.fsmac.licensetool.plist
[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2.Agent.plist
Launch Agents:
[loaded] com.babylon.activation.plist
[loaded] com.bjango.istatlocal.plist
[loaded] com.f-secure.relauncher.plist
[loaded] com.f-secure.trasher.plist
User Launch Agents:
[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist
[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist
[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.diskSpaceWatcher.plist
[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.scheduledScan.plist
[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.trashWatcher.plist
User Login Items:
iTunesHelper
Dropbox
F-Secure Anti-Virus for MAC
3rd Party Preference Panes:
Flash Player
Internet Plug-ins::
FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 11.9.900.170 - SDK 10.6
Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9
AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.04 - SDK 10.6
AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.04 - SDK 10.6
DivXBrowserPlugin: Version: 2.1
Flash Player: Version: 11.9.900.170 - SDK 10.6
OfficeLiveBrowserPlugin: Version: 12.2.8
Google Earth Web Plug-in: Version: 6.1
QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0
User Internet Plug-ins::
Picasa: Version: 1.0
Bad Fonts:
None
Old applications:
None
Time Machine:
Skip System Files: NO
Mobile backups: OFF
Auto backup: YES
Volumes being backed up:
XooS5 HD: Disk size: 930.71 GB Disk used: 753.90 GB
Destinations:
XooS5 TM [Local] (Last used)
Total size: 2
Total number of backups: 32
Oldest backup: 2013-09-15 01:11:39 +0000
Last backup: 2013-12-07 12:48:45 +0000
Size of backup disk: Too small. Backup size 2 < (Disk used 753.90 GB X 3)
Time Machine details may not be accurate. All volumes being backed up may not be listed.
REMARK: The above finding is unlikely to be accurate. In fact, my Time Machine is supported by a 2TB WD My Passport Studio external HD connected with a Firewire 800. As mentionned, only 754GB of the 2000GB are used.
Top Processes by CPU:
5%          backupd
5%          Mail
5%          WindowServer
3%          Finder
3%          Dropbox
Top Processes by Memory:
1.60 GB          mds_stores REMARK: this item was marked in red in the outcome of EtreCheck, so I assume there is something wrong there
82 MB          Finder
74 MB          Mail
49 MB          softwareupdated
49 MB          Dropbox
Virtual Memory Statistics:
97 MB          Free RAM
1.21 GB          Active RAM
1.19 GB          Inactive RAM
1.21 GB          Wired RAM
1.83 GB          Page-ins
36 MB          Page-outs
Please find now some additional measurements collected with iStat while running EtreCheck:
Practically:
The iMac can work slowly with only one software e.g. either Mail or Safari or Firefox, but still the below "out of Memory" message occurs about every 3 minutes.
Aperture has becomre to slow to be useable
If trying to write a mail (with Mail) while Safari or Firefox is open, then the "out of Memory" message occurs about every 20 seconds so I need to check on "Resume" several times per minute.
Conclusions
From the above, unless anyone in the Apple Support Community proves to be able to identify a specific problem leading to a way to find a cure, I tend to conclude that Mavericks is not suitable for computers operating with a Core 2 Duo CPU even with a 8GB of RAM.
Unless I missed something, I did not see any warning from Apple Computer Inc. informing their customers they should refrain from upgrading Core 2 Duo Computers.
The only solution I see so far is to downgrade from Mavericks to Mountain Lion. And the Apple Support Community would confirm that it is the only solution, I would appreciate to get your guidance on how to proceed.
Intended action plan
Migrate the above 2009 iMac to a 2014 Mac Mini Server operating on Mavericks to ensure that no data may be lost while downgrading to Montain Lion.
Provided the above downgrading operation is successful, assign this 2009 iMac to partial retirement e.g. Mail, Skype, iTunes and DVD player.
In advance, I would like to thank the Apple Community for helping me either i) finding a cure to the problem, ii) or confirming that Mavericks cannot operate properly on Core 2 Duo computers, iii) and in such a case, guiding me on how to downgrade to Mountain Lion.
Yours sincerely
Core

... what anti-virus would you recommend using?
Use what is already included with OS X. It already includes everything it needs to protect itself from viruses and malware. Keep it that way with software updates from Apple.
A much better question is "how should I protect my Mac":
Never install any product that claims to "speed up", "clean up", "optimize", or "accelerate" your Mac. Without exception, they will do the opposite.
Never install pirated or "cracked" software, software obtained from dubious websites, or other questionable sources. Illegally obtained software is almost certain to contain malware.
Don’t supply your password in response to a popup window requesting it, unless you know what it is and the reason your credentials are required.
Don’t open email attachments from email addresses that you do not recognize, or click links contained in an email:
Most of these are scams that direct you to fraudulent sites that attempt to convince you to disclose personal information.
Such "phishing" attempts are the 21st century equivalent of a social exploit that has existed since the dawn of civilization. Don’t fall for it.
Apple will never ask you to reveal personal information in an email. If you receive an unexpected email from Apple saying your account will be closed unless you take immediate action, just ignore it. If your iTunes or App Store account becomes disabled for valid reasons, you will know when you try to buy something or log in to this support site, and are unable to.
Don’t install browser extensions unless you understand their purpose. Go to the Safari menu > Preferences > Extensions. If you see any extensions that you do not recognize or understand, simply click the Uninstall button and they will be gone.
Don’t install Java unless you are certain that you need it:
Java, a non-Apple product, is a potential vector for malware. If you are required to use Java, be mindful of that possibility.
Disable Java in Safari > Preferences > Security.
Despite its name JavaScript is unrelated to Java. No malware can infect your Mac through JavaScript. It’s OK to leave it enabled.
Block browser popups: Safari menu > Preferences > Security > and check "Block popup windows":
Popup windows are useful and required for some websites, but popups have devolved to become a common means to deliver targeted advertising that you probably do not want.
Popups themselves cannot infect your Mac, but many contain resource-hungry code that will slow down Internet browsing.
If you ever see a popup indicating it detected registry errors, that your Mac is infected with some ick, or that you won some prize, it is 100% fraudulent. Ignore it.
Ignore hyperventilating popular media outlets that thrive by promoting fear and discord with entertainment products arrogantly presented as "news". Learn what real threats actually exist and how to arm yourself against them:
The most serious threat to your data security is phishing. To date, most of these attempts have been pathetic and are easily recognized, but that is likely to change in the future as criminals become more clever.
OS X viruses do not exist, but intentionally malicious or poorly written code, created by either nefarious or inept individuals, is nothing new.
Never install something without first knowing what it is, what it does, how it works, and how to get rid of it when you don’t want it any more.
If you elect to use "anti-virus" software, familiarize yourself with its limitations and potential to cause adverse effects, and apply the principle immediately preceding this one.
Most such utilities will only slow down and destabilize your Mac while they look for viruses that do not exist, conveying no benefit whatsoever - other than to make you "feel good" about security, when you should actually be exercising sound judgment, derived from accurate knowledge, based on verifiable facts.
Do install updates from Apple as they become available. No one knows more about Macs and how to protect them than the company that builds them.
Summary: Use common sense and caution when you use your Mac, just like you would in any social context. There is no product, utility, or magic talisman that can protect you from all the evils of mankind.

Upgrading from Mountain lion

I am upgrading from Mountain Lion to Mavericks. I tried to install Mavericks from the AppStore, everything went OK (download, etc), until the system had to reboot and it was when everything failed. The system couldn't start, it stalled when the apple logo appeared, but the mouse was resposive (really weird). I tried several things cleaning the PRAM, etc, and there was no booting, or alternative to start the system. After trying all the different combinations to boot and see no change, I realised that the left option key somehow was unresposive at startup, and that was one of the identified problems. However, I manage to use the right option key and I was be able to boot from an external hardrive using a recovery partition from a clone of my system. I restored the system with my back-up from Time Machine of 10.8.5. I have a mid 2010 MacBook Pro, where I have a SSD drive. My drive is OK and It was checked prior to installation of the system etc. Any Ideas on how to able to install 10.9, or an expected release date of a new installer? It seems this has been happening to a lot of people.

OK,
I did the following (I did not purchase DiskWarrior or any other 3rd Party software)
Backed up to an Time Machine Drive
Reset the EPROM (zapped it or whatever they kids these days are calling it)
Booted off a Mavericks USB stick.
Ran Repair Disk & Repair Permissions
Installed Mavericks
Worked fine, took a while but up and running.
Not sure what the HD damage error was but it's working away on my old work horse (17" Late 2007 MacBook Pro).
Eoin
<Apologies for post the same response in two place but I had made a comment here and was following another thread, Good Luck!)

I need to have both Snow leopard and Lion...Mountain lion running on my iMac. How do I install Lion or Mountain lion on an Ext H D and boot from it?

My software is obsolete (and now dead) in 10.7 so I need to keep Snow leopard alive to run that- but now things like TurboTax are dropping support for 10.6 or lower and I have to have lion or Mountain Lion available. I actually downloaded Lion onto a thumb drive but never installed it when I found out that it would immedaitely render all my FreeHand files inaccessible (years of work!), Now that I am forced to have an OS above 10.6 I was hoping I could install whichever--Lion or Mountain Lion onto an external hard drive and figure out how to boot from that (found something in archives I think, but I need words of one syllable or less). This way I could, ideally, boot from either the External hard drive in the higher OS when needed, or from the internal hard drive when I need to use Snow leopard. There is a long story here, but I think this is the gist. I wasn not sure if this should be asked here or in either Lion or Mountain Lion (both of which I have, essentially, ignored since I would not be moving up until I could figure out how to access those old files of forms and drawings00but now I have no choice. I am panicking now that I HAVE to make the move anbd cannot afford to buy another Mac just to keep two separately running. Any help would be greatly appreciated. i asked Apple when Lion came out and they said there was no way to partition (even if I KNEW how to do that) the haaard drive and install both on my iMac-- but I "think" this is a bit different and possible??? Thanks (once/if I figure this out, I need to figure out how to back-up but that is another matter)

You need to move to Windows 7, because Apple is now releasing a new OS X version annually and it's playing havoc with people's hardware and software.
Windows 7 will get support until 2020, that's 8 years of software stability, however you do need to make System Restore disks, boot disk and another on a hard drive to self restore (like TimeMachine is for OS X)
Apple has no plans to change their currrent behavior as all they care about is selling new hardware with a shiny new OS X verison on it.
If you wait to move, what will happen is you'll lose that full 8 years and will have to swtich to a newer Windows sooner
Windows 7 machines are still widely avaialble, despite Windows 8 (a failure) being pushed currently.
Running three OS X operating systems on one machine is quite a chore reserved for only seasoned computer geeks, then it's only going to last X months as the next OS X version will be released, then the next a year after that.
Another method would be to get a virtual machine software (virtualbox is free) and install Windows 7 into that to ease your transitition if you cant' spring for a Windows 7 machine, preferablly a tower that will last a long time.
Here is a method to run Snow Leopard in Parallels, however it's a unapproced hack and not for the comptuer newbie.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1365439
We have no control over Apple's OS X release cycle, nor the third party developers who make their own decisions what to support.
Our only choice as users to stop using both products and seek software/hardware stability.

If I go back to Lion from Mountain Lion, Can I go back to ML after?

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