Restoring from sparseimage backup - what went wrong?

[mastertantoo]

Hi,

I recently backed up my Leopard system (cloned the Snow Leopard partition to USB), then wiped and installed Snow Leopard. After install I backed up the fresh install to a sparseimage file.

After using the migration tool to restore user files; and not liking the end result I decided to erase again and restore from the sparseimage backup. This time the machine (Macbook Pro) won't boot.. "You need to restart your computer. Hold down the power button".

I'm going to reinstall Snow Leopard from scratch again, but I'd love to know what went wrong and how to avoid this next time!

Your advice is appreciated.

-Aaron.

[dnanian]

How did you do this restore? Given what you've said, it's not clear what might have happened here, Aaron.

[mastertantoo]

Good point.

I used the Disk Utility.. Erased the partition then used the Restore button and selected the image I took from SuperDuper to copy files back to the laptop.

Thanks!

[dnanian]

So, you mounted the image and used its mounted volume, or you actually set the file as the source?

[mastertantoo]

I set the file as the source.

I reinstalled yesterday and have just mounted the image. It appears complete (though I know a lot more about non-OS X filesystems).

I can't help feeling I've missed an important step somewhere.

Something which may help, I should mention.. When I tried to boot after doing the restore the name of my OS X partition wasn't visible to the 'boot loader' software - if I hold down the option button at startup the partition would display as "EFI Boot" I think. Once I'd started the system using my Leopard backup I could see the partition; it had the correct name and file contents.

Your help is appreciated.

Aaron.

[dnanian]

OK. You need to properly partition the internal drive (GUID), then open/mount the image and use its mounted volume as the source for the restore, not the file.

[mastertantoo]

dnanian,

sorry i've been very busy recently and haven't been on the forum.

thank you so much for your reply - i'm surprised there would be a difference in the two methods, but i live and learn!

i'll give it a go as soon as possible.

kind regards,

aaron.