Trying to simplify my backup, I recently followed this hint from Mac OS X Hints on on how to make a bootable Time Machine drive. The idea is to use Disk Utility to restore the OS X install disk to TM drive(in addition to QRecall, I also use TM along with TimeMachineScheduler set at six hour intervals.) After doing this, since it wasn't a real boot image, I could neither run QRecall from the backup drive nor restore from the archive I had moved. I can verify, reindex, and repair, just not restore. So I lost both backups when faced with reinstalling my main system, which is why I wanted to make backing up easier.

Mac OS X Hints recently published a hint on to repair a TM drive when connected to a different logic board, and it involved updating the TM drive's MAC address. Might something similar be going on here? I'd really like to access the archive, as there are a lot of Firefox bookmarks and 1Password passwords in there.

Charles Robinson wrote:I can verify, reindex, and repair, just not restore.

If you can verify the archive, then you should be able to recall files from it.

The Restore command replaces the original item with the version in the archive. The key word here is "original." QRecall records the volume information and location of each item captured. It will only allow an item to be restored if the volume matches what's in the archive. If you've reformatted or repartitioned your drives, the volume information (name, creation date, size, identifier, etc.) probably doesn't match and QRecall naturally assumes that this isn't the volume that originally contained the items.

Just recall the items and select the location to recall them to. This can be the same (relative) location on your new volume. The existing items will be overwritten with the recalled ones, accomplishing your "Restore."

If you want to restore an entire volume to a different volume, open the Owners & Volumes drawer, and select the volume. Holding down the Option key will turn the Archive > Restore... command into Restore To.... Choose that command and QRecall will present a list of volumes. Choose the one you want to overwrite, and the entire volume will be replaced with the contents of the captured volume.

Yup, didn't realize that keeping the same name on my reinstalled system wasn't enough, my bad. Thanks.