Copy sandbox back over Original system

[Brent]

Hi Dave,

I have foolishly been running my system from Mac HD even though I had created a Sandbox. Recently, things have been acting up and I discovered an "invalid node structure".

So I rebooted from the Sandbox and ran "verify disk". No problem.

Now I know that you recommend against copying Sandbox over my original system but I just want to get through this quickly.

I noticed something about “Backup – all files” copy script in the user manual but I am uncertain about the following statement:

....this will only work if the Sandbox and all the shared files were created by SuperDuper!

I have an external backup of all my documents on a sparse image. My machine is filevaulted.

Can I go ahead and copy my sandbox over my original system using "erase, then copy" to fix this directory issue? (invalid node structure)

Thanks

[dnanian]

ABSOLUTELY NOT!

Do not do this. You cannot use a Sandbox to recover from disk corruption.

[Brent]

Do you have any suggestions that do not require 3rd party apps like Disk Warrior?

[dnanian]

Well... you could try a full copy of your source to a clean destination using "Backup - all files" with "Erase, then copy" or "Smart Update". When you're satisfied with that, you can erase the original and copy back...

[Brent]

That sounds very straightforward. Thanks.

Erasing the original means just erasing the Mac HD (source). No need to erase the problem-free Sandbox.

Does the fact that I am using filevault introduce any complications to this fix?

[dnanian]

No more complications than normal: you should not make the copy while logged into the FileVault account. It might not be that straightforward, depending on the effect of the disk corruption...