Can I revert to OS 10.5.8?

[David]

Having installed Snow Leopard and having then had ensuing numerous serious problems, can I revert to the previous version from a Time Machine backup done before the new installation?  Or would this effort screw things up even more?

David.

[ben schmidt]

David,

I wouldn't want to try reverting to an earlier OS using Time Capsule. My impression is that Time Capsule's forte is in recovering the earlier version of a modified document, say. Or as the makers of SuperDuper, drive cloning software, put it:  Time Machine is designed to provide automatic "temporal" backup. [...] Its primary usage scenario [...] is to allow quick recovery of files

David, while it comes too late for you, your posting does provide an opportunity to remind board members:

• Clone your boot drive before performing major OS updates. A clone is a fully bootable copy of your source drive.

My OS X 10.6 upgrade process took 5 hours:

• 4-hours for SuperDuper to clone my 200GB OS X 10.5.8 drive, including time for me to verify that I could boot off of the clone. NB. You need not purchase SuperDupser to access its clone feature.
• 1-hour for the OS X 10.6 drive to update my OS

David, without a clone of your 10.5.8 disk, my advice is to press forward. Tackle each of your issues, one by one. Post each issue on its own with a clear description of the problem and your setup. And then let your fellow Mac hobbyists help. You may choose to use this board. Alternatively, another I recommend is the board Apple hosts: discussions.apple.com.

Finally there's an intriguing new service whereby US and Canadian Mac users can book and schedule a Tech Support phonecall from an Apple Expert. If anyone has used it, share your experiences on the board.

• http://www.apple.com/support/expert/

...b