restoring from backup - gown awry, help!!!

[balazs]

So I backed up my drive using SuperSuper before installing Leopard (while logged into tiger - this may have caused a problem, did I oversee something), thinking things might go awry. And that they did. I'll spare you the details, but it boiled down to logging in to Leopard was fine, but Finder never started up.

So I thought that I'll be fine with my backup that I made using SuperDuper. Here's the problem: I reinstalled a blank copy of Tiger, and then I restored the from the .DMG file that superduper made. However when I started up my Mac, I was shown a username and password box. I looked around and I found that my netinfo file was damaged, so I trashed that. When I restarted, it showed me the welcome prompts that you get when you startup for the first time. I went through the process and made the default user something different so that it didn't overwrite my data. Once I logged out of the default user and logged into my account: I founf the worst problem.

All of my settings had disappeared like I just had created a new account. sure my applications and everything was there, but when i started anything up, including safari, it made a notice that it couldn't write to some file or couldn't load up my bookmarks. I couldn't access my Documents folder so i ran a repair disk permissions, and it worked, but it still couldn't find my settings! My keychain was totally gone and nothing was found.

Help!! Anything will be appreciated, I thought I was safe with my backup, but apprently not!

Balazs

[dnanian]

Restore again, Balazs. But when you recreate the account, do use the exact same name as before.

[balazs]

Originally Posted by dnanian

Restore again, Balazs. But when you recreate the account, do use the exact same name as before.

So that doesn't overwrite my data then?

And when I copied my data when backing up SuperDuper, does it not copy my keychain? I mounted the saved .DMG and found my keychain wasn't there, just the system keychain. Did I make some mistake backing up?

[dnanian]

It does copy your keychain, certainly, but I don't know what you did, and can't tell where you're copying from.

And, no, it won't overwrite your data. It'll use your data, which is what you want.

[balazs]

Originally Posted by dnanian

It does copy your keychain, certainly, but I don't know what you did, and can't tell where you're copying from.

And, no, it won't overwrite your data. It'll use your data, which is what you want.

Well when I was using SuperDuper, I was logged in as myself, which I presume could a part of (or the) problem. I backed it up to a .DMG on an external drive. How else am I supposed to do this to be able to run SuperDuper to backup my drive?

Many thanks

[dnanian]

No, you log in as yourself (assuming you weren't using FileVault). But we run as root (which is why you authorize the app when you run it).

[balazs]

Originally Posted by dnanian

No, you log in as yourself (assuming you weren't using FileVault). But we run as root (which is why you authorize the app when you run it).

Does it automatically run as root (i think my copy of superduper is not the latest one, it's been sitting there for a while - maybe even a year). No I don't have filevault on.

I don't remember asking it to authorize me, when was this function implemented?

[dnanian]

We've authorized since the very first version, and have always run as root.

[balazs]

Originally Posted by dnanian

We've authorized since the very first version, and have always run as root.

So did it definitely run as root? Is there any way to run the software without it running as root (I am using the free functions of the software).

[dnanian]

There is no way to run it without entering your password.

[balazs]

Originally Posted by dnanian

There is no way to run it without entering your password.

Well thanks. I'm restoring from the backup at this point. Just one question? What could I have done wrong in my backup that my keychain wasn't copied, only the system keychain? I deliberately mounted the drive after I realised my restore went ka-boom, to copy my keychain file over manually, but it wasn't there? Is this just some strange anomaly?

it also seems no other config /preference files were kept, or there was some problem with permission (which I tried to fix), as even after repairing permissions, I loaded up Safari and Adium to test, but it pretended like there were no preference files. Maybe it's just as a result of something I screwed up. I hope it works this time.

Thanks for all your help,
SD is a great software.

[dnanian]

I think you were likely looking at the wrong place, actually. I can't think of any reason why these files wouldn't be copied -- and we've never seen a case where SD! didn't copy something it was supposed to (and not give some kind of diagnostic, of course).

[balazs]

Yeah, that seems likely, I'm just trying to find the cause of the problem. So it obviously isn't SD. I don't think I'll ever be able to find out, I just hope my restore works fine.

Thanks,
Balazs