Thanks for replying!
I think the fact you choose a non-proprietary format is wholly laudable (I like the whole of SD!'s philosophy/usability), and I also realise that using the sparse image format neatly handles OSX file meta-data and associations in a way that more crude data backup solutions do not.
My point was that no other OS (I believe this to be true but I'd gladly be proven wrong) can read the data, not just my particular setup, and this may be a problem for -- very likely a small minority -- of users.
Is there a solution? Well, what I'd like is a linux (or windows if need be) tool that can provide read-only access to a sparse image format. Something like this already exists for dmg (
http://hem.bredband.net/catacombae/dmgx.html) but, as I say, it baulks at sparse dmgs.
So if shirt-pocket wished to address the problem then perhaps providing such a tool would be the way to go. But I realise that a) you've all got a billion other features to work on first and b) I may be the only user who has such a requirement (in which case ignoring me is not only sensible but essential, to avoid wasting time).
Donald I.