Is it possible to go back to an older version of OS X?

[MacBook17]

You see, we've got an old early-2011 MacBook Pro 17 (MBP 17) that's dying a slow death via the dreaded 2011 AMD GPU failure issue. At this point, we're working on finding an external drive to create a restore disc image, but the machine we think we'll be temporarily using to replace the MBP 17 is an MBP 15 (mid-2015) that has Catalina (10.15.6) installed on it.

The MBP 17 that we'll be retiring is running on OS X El Capitan (10.11.6), so the thought is to try to "go back to" El Capitan on the MBP 15 to avoid any possible issues. If anyone has any experience with this sort of thing, good or bad, I'd love to hear from you.

Thank you kindly for your time ~ MacBook 17

 

[lclev]

It can be done provided you plan a clean install on the 2015 MBP. One way you could do this is to create a clone of the 2011 using either Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper. I use CCC to back up my macs so I am more familiar with it. There is a free trial with CCC. Here is a link to it with instructions: https://bombich.com/download

You use an external drive on the 2011 and create a clone using CCC. Then plug that drive into the 2015 and boot it while holding down the Option key. Select the CCC drive and boot. When it is done booting it will offer to clone/restore the drive. I am not sure but you might have to wipe the 2015's drive first but I am not sure.

The other option would be to download El Capitan from Apple and create a USB installer. Plug it into the 2015 and install. You may have to wipe the 2015's drive first by going into restore (Hold down Command + R when booting).

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

How to create a bootable USB masOS installer

Make a macOS installer with createinstallmedia and install Monterey or another macOS on multiple Macs, do a clean install, or access a faulty Mac.

www.macworld.com

 

[Apple_Robert]

Yes, you can do this with Internet Recovery, which will put the original OS on the system and then you can upgrade to the OS you need.

Use macOS Recovery on an Intel-based Mac

Learn how to use macOS Recovery on an Intel-based Mac.

support.apple.com

 

[justashooter]

Well, I'm wondering if a clone of a 2011 MBP would correctly run a 2015 MBP.

MacBook17, when you get a clone of the 2011, use Apple's OSX migration tool to get your information onto the 2015 MBP. But you already know this, because I explained it in your other thread.

 

[Isamilis]

Very possible as long you have the installer and make the bootable usb from it. Issues will be on the 3rd party apps compatibility. If you can work with the old version of them, then you will be fine.

 

[MacBook17]

Iclev..... I will definitely look into the disc imaging applications you mentioned. Your idea about installing El Capitan (10.11.X) is very appealing to me. Will you please clue me into where to find the old El Capitan OS, and also how to create the USB installer you mentioned?

I'm a loyal Mac user and not much of a Mac software expert. Thank you kindly ~ MacBook 17

 

[Fishrrman]

There is NO NEED to "go back" to any previous OS to make a cloned copy of the drive that is inside the MBP.

I told you what to do in this post:

Looking for an external drive for TB1 and beyond?

OP: Don't bother with thunderbolt. I doubt anyone even sells tbolt1 drives any more. It's an obsolete technology at this point. You want USB instead. What you need is an external USB3 SSD. There are numerous ones available online. Get one that is 1tb in size. Or... buy a "bare" 2.5" SATA SSD...

forums.macrumors.com

You keep putting up new posts, and asking exactly the same question.

If the 2011 is "dying", and if you have a new Mac, why not just:
1. Open the back
2. Take out the internal 2.5" drive
3. Buy a 2.5" USB3 enclosure
4. Put the drive into the enclosure and connect it to the new Mac and migrate to the new Mac that way?

 

[MacBook17]

Fishrrman.... I'm sorry for any misunderstanding. The words about the malfunctioning MBP 17 is merely background information.

The point of this thread is to get information about setting up an entirely different machine. I won't get into cloning the old machine here because that's being discussed in a different thread.

Once again, I'm looking for information about changing an operating system in this thread. Accordingly, several members have understood the question and have given me a good start with what needs to be done with the [newer] machine.

No one is being forced to join the discussion, so have a great day...

 

[MacBook17]

In an effort to better inform the thread...

The (mid-2015) MBP 15 being discussed in this thread is a "loaner." We've been given permission to format its internal drive, if we want to, but we're not Apple tech's, so no repair work of any kind will be performed during our move to this temporary machine.

Thanks again for your time.

 

[lclev]

MacBook17 - In post #2 I provided two links that will direct you to where to download El Capitan and also how to create install media. Please take a look at the links.

 

[MacBook17]

Iclev..... Thank you very much for clarifying that for me.

 

[xbpr]

I just did something similar. I had an external drive with a full clone backup of a 2009 MacBook Pro that was running Yosemite. I connected the external drive to a 2015 MacBook Pro running Catalina and tried to boot from it. Amazingly, it booted and seemed to be running well. So I used Yosemite disk utility to format the internal drive on the 2015 as HFS+ and used Super Duper to clone the 2009 Yosemite drive over. I rebooted the 2015 off of the newly cloned internal drive and the proceeded to upgrade from Yosemite to El Capitan and then ultimately to Sierra. I got the old OS installers from the Apple support link posted above.

 

[MacBook17]

xbpr..... Thanks for letting us know about your transition from a 2009 MBP (Yosemite) machine to a 2015 MBP (Catalina). I'm also happy to read that the links you found in this thread helped you out.

The tricky part for us is the fact that we don't have access to high speed internet service, so what may take some folks a short amount of time to download takes us "mountain folk" a whole lot longer. In fact, I used one of the links in this thread to download the 6.2 GB El Capitan .dmg file and it failed before completion. Regardless, I'm happy that it went well for you.

 

[hallux]

The tricky part for us is the fact that we don't have access to high speed internet service, so what may take some folks a short amount of time to download takes us "mountain folk" a whole lot longer.

Which is why you could do as xbpr did and clone the drive... No OS installation needed, it's a copy over USB...