Mountain Lion using a Snow Leopard backup?

Hi,
Some applications won't run on my current OS which forces me to upgrade to Mountain Lion. When I do this I'll also erase my entire disk (it is way to full). But, before I do this I want to make sure that Mountain Lion will be able to use a Snow Leopard Time Machine backup and that I can retrieve my files (pictures, movies etc).
Thanks
Steve -

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
There are no problems doing it. Furthermore, the problem would be that you want to restore the backup made in Mountain Lion onto a computer with Snow Leopard, but in this case, you can do it without any problem.
During the initial setup, Mountain Lion will ask you to restore a backup, so follow its steps. It will ask you to restore whatever you need. See > http://pondini.org/OSX/SetupLion.html

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    I'm caught in a vicious circle.
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    I'm assuming that you currently have an SSD with Snow Leopard on it, and another SSD with no operating system. Is that correct?
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  • Upgrading to Mountain Lion of reinstalling Snow Leopard?

    Hi,
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    I currently don't need any of the new features that were added to Lion or Mountain Lion and I am fine with Snow Leopard (I know some guys that are still using Tiger). Still, I would not like to fall far behind since the newest OSX is already two versions infront of mine, but what is mostly concerning me is the speed of my Mac. Has anyone tried it on a MacBook Pro like this one? What do you think will be the best option? (I don't care about the money since Mountain Lion is only $20)
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    I'm using Yosemite on an early 2008 iMac, so Yosemite should run on your computer. The biggest thing that would help Yosemite run better is maxing out your RAM.
    I would pick Mountain Lion over Lion. Tried them both and Mountain Lion was much better.
    One option is to create a new partition (~30- 50 GB), install the new OS, and ‘test drive’ it. If you like/don’t like it it, you can then remove the partition. Do a backup before you do anything. By doing this, if you don’t like it you won’t have to go though the revert process.
    Check to make sure your applications are compatible.
    Application Compatibility
    Applications Compatibility (2)

  • Upgrading to Mountain Lion from 2011 Snow Leopard

    I have a Macbook Pro that I bought in 2011. I have been running under Snow Leopard without issues but have been looking into upgrading due to the fact that a game I am wanting to purchase minimally requires Lion. I have been told, by a tech person, that upgrading to Yosemite would be a lot on my computer and would likely cause issues like others have been having (I have been watching the reviews through the App Store). So I have been looking into Lion and Mountain Lion because I was told that since they were closer to my model it wouldn't be as hard on my computer as Yosemite or Mavericks would be.
    Basically want to know / get a second opinion if anyone has gone from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion/Lion and if that worked well for them?
    I don't know a lot about computers and just really don't want to mess up or crash my computer all because of a game!
    Thank you!

    I'm using Yosemite on an early 2008 iMac, so Yosemite should run on your computer. The biggest thing that would help Yosemite run better is maxing out your RAM.
    I would pick Mountain Lion over Lion. Tried them both and Mountain Lion was much better.
    One option is to create a new partition (~30- 50 GB), install the new OS, and ‘test drive’ it. If you like/don’t like it it, you can then remove the partition. Do a backup before you do anything. By doing this, if you don’t like it you won’t have to go though the revert process.
    Check to make sure your applications are compatible.
    Application Compatibility
    Applications Compatibility (2)

  • Need help with Mountain Lion downgrade to Snow Leopard

    Recently upgraded to Mountain Lion, my daily applications do not work and i am losing patience, I need help downgrading to snow leopard, i have the snow leopard CDS that came with my mac           
    ***detailed instructions help***
    my mac specs
    macbook pro 13" early 2011
    My time machine
    i have a backup with mountain lion, and i also have a backup from snow leopard,(my goal is to restore my latest backup from mountain lion to snow leopard)
    i have backed up my files using time machine AND justcloud
    My question is how, i do not want to lose any data, also is there any thing i need to be aware during this process

    Downgrade Lion/Mountain Lion to Snow Leopard
    1.  Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button.  When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
    2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area.  If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing.  SMART info will not be reported  on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
    3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
    4. Quit DU and return to the installer. Install Snow Leopard.
    This will erase the whole drive so be sure to backup your files if you don't have a backup already. If you have performed a TM backup using Lion be aware that you cannot restore from that backup in Snow Leopard (see below.) I suggest you make a separate backup using Carbon Copy Cloner 3.4.1.
    If you have Snow Leopard Time Machine backups, do a full system restore per #14 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.  If you have subsequent backups from Lion, you can restore newer items selectively, via the "Star Wars" display, per #15 there, but be careful; some Snow Leopard apps may not work with the Lion files.

  • How to downgrade from Mountain Lion back to snow leopard with Time Machine

    The final straw was the horrible mouse sideways page wiggle while trying to scroll down and read safari pages. Even after turning the feature off, tech support said it will still wiggle a little. That and the HORRIBLE grey icons everywhere was enough to send me back to my beloved iMac I loved when I bought it. I'll give up the iMessage and the few new items ML gave me. But as many others said, what I got new was far less than what was taken away. 
    So what tech support had me do was this. Even though the apple engineers said it would not work, apple tech support had me try it and it worked for me so good luck. Engineers said that after you install mountain Lion, it messes with ALL your time machine back ups and won't revert back to snow leopard even if you select a snow leopard date back in time.  That didn't happen to me.  I have a 2010 27 inch iMac
    This worked for me but PROCEED AT YOU OWN RISK
    Export individually any email folders or photos or data you will lose between now and the date you are reverting back to.
    1. Insert Snow Leopard DVD that came with computer. The install disk not the applications. Make sure time machine external drive IS connected.
    2. Restart computer and when you hear The Mac chime, hold down the C key and then it will take several minutes to boot up from the DVD.
    3. Select the little blue triangle to continue in English.
    4. When it gets to the screen that says "continue" stop. There might be a screen or two before this one I can't remember but either way stop at the word continue.
    5. Go up to the top left and find the UTILITIES pull down menu and select disk utility.
    6. In the window that opens up, Select the Apple drive which should be the very top one in the window.
    7. Select erase.. it should be Mac OS extended journaled
    8 select erase and maybe a password. It only takes a few seconds
    9 go back up to UTILITIES in upper left and then select restore from time machine or backup or whatever it says. It's the last choice.
    10. Select the external time machine drive and navigate to the date you last had Snow Leopard running and that will be the date it restores to. You will lose any data between now and then but you can export your mail, export photos, and other items separately. I only stayed on ML For a few days before hating it enough to go back so I had no loss of data except a few emails.
    11. Hit RESTORE. And then it will take several hours. When you restart it, it should come right back to that day you selected as if ML  was just a bad thought on someone's drawing board.   If for some reason it still comes up ML, Then they said to erase HD Again (steps 1-8) and then manually drags back USER folder or individual folders with Mail, photos etc.   if this way doesn't work, have another plan printed out so that you are not stuck by this one.
    Good luck. Proceed at your own risk..

    The ultimate solution:
    You need an USB of at least 5 GB and the Snow Leopard Install DVD.
    1. make a bootable USB with Disk Utility in it:
         a. download the Mountain Lion Installer from the App Store
         b. quit the installer after download
         c. find the installer in the Applications folder
         d. option+click in it and select "Show Pakage Contents"
         e. go to Contents>SharedSupport to find there the InstallESD.dmg file and mount it by double-clicking it
         f. with the Disk Utility, restore its contents into your USB
    2. boot from the USB:
         a. restart the computer and hold-down the option key while booting
         b. select the USB and boot
    3. run the Disk Utility and format in ONE partition the HD of your computer
    REMEMBER: BACKUP YOUR HARD DISK BEFORE DOING ALL THESE, YOUR DISK WILL BE EREASED AND DATA BECOME UNRECOVERABLE OTHERWISE
    4. insert the Snow Leopard DVD and reboot from it
    5. follow the on-screen instructions to install OS X 10.6
    After this, you can, if you will, upgrade to Lion or stay in Snow... Good Luck!!

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