Hi, I made a TM backup of my old macbook pro before it stopped working. It was running on El Capitan with many important apps. If I buy a 2018 Macbook Air (running, presumably, Mojave) can I just start the new Air up, press Cmd-R and restore from old backup? Will my Macbook Air then be running on El Capitan with all my previous apps and files intact? Or is this process fraught with difficulties?
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restoring el capitan to Macbook Air (2018)
- Thread starter brendanxxx
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Unless El Capitan has the driver that support 2018 MacBook Air, I doubt this is possible, especially if you want to run El Capitan on your new air.
One alternative is to use parallel desktop or some sort of virtualisation software and see if restoring time machine backup to a virtual machine possible.
One alternative is to use parallel desktop or some sort of virtualisation software and see if restoring time machine backup to a virtual machine possible.
A MacBook will not support any OS that is older than the OS that shipped with the unit.
This. No drivers. Not only did the 2018 never have El Capitan, it also doesn't have any same-gen predecessors which shipped with El Cap, either.
You can certainly try to recover using TM backup. If it does not work, use Mojave or maybe high Sierra and migration assistant to move as much data from TM backup as you can.
All academic now as I've just changed the HD cable and my old workhorse works again! So no need to buy a new Air. How annoying though that Apple so quickly renders old editions redundant (just been told my iphone 4s can't be upgraded!) - does this happen with Windows?
Not really, considering windows 10 can still be used on a lot of older computers from 2010 or even 2012. Even though the performance is not great, at least they are up to date.
At this point I suggest you seek virtualisation options before your air dies again, so that you can keep using El Capitan a bit longer.
Many thanks - as I am waiting for my ancient macbook pro late 2011 to die once and for all could you suggest the easiest (and preferably cheapest!) way of being able to transfer all my apps (I realise that some/many will not work with Mojave etc.), files etc into my new Mac Air (I guess that's what I'd choose - hard to escape Apple once you've been bitten). Do I just open TM and manually transfer the apps/files etc into the Air? Can I just backup everything that's not my old OS?
Much obliged for all help past and future
cheers
Brendan
Much obliged for all help past and future
cheers
Brendan
You can transfer files from TM backup but you have to have a working system first. I guess Mojave might do. As for backup though, use a separate disk for Mojave and onward instead of backing up the stuff on top of the older TM backup. It may save you.