Diskutil error 22 on restore

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Diskutil error 22 on restore

I'm getting an error while attempting to do a disk to disk restore with Diskutil. Here are the details:

- Dual 2.3 ghz G5 / OS 10.4.10 / 4.5gb RAM
- Booted to the Tiger OS instal CD, Diskutil run from there
- Restore attempted from internal system partition to external firewire 800 drive

I'm simply trying to create a backup of my boot disk. I've done this before but did not get the error:

"An error (22) occurred while copying (invalid argument)"

I've tried this with two different external drives so it looks like it's an issue with the source disk. I had already repaired permissions and run DiskWarrior on the boot disk prior to attempting the backup.

The error isn't terribly descriptive, does anyone have any clues on this one?

Dual 2.3 G5 / MacBook, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Oct 1, 2007 3:56 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 1, 2007 4:25 PM in response to otheroom

Hello! I was making a bootable clone using DU the other night and got an error message on two attempts. This had worked numerous times before so I resorted to SuperDuper which worked fine. I still don't know what caused the error. Tom

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Answer 2

otheroom Author

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Oct 1, 2007 6:15 PM in response to otheroom

Thanks for the info but SuperDuper isn't an option for me because I need to be booted to the CD to do the restore.

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Answer 3

Oct 1, 2007 8:07 PM in response to otheroom

Hello! "I'm simply trying to create a backup of my boot disk." I'm not following something here. Do you NOT have a bootable system except for the install disc or do you have a good OS hard drive that you are trying to copy? Tom

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Answer 4

otheroom Author

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Oct 1, 2007 8:42 PM in response to otheroom

- I've got one internal drive and that's my boot drive.
- I'm trying to use Diskutil to make a duplicate to a firewire drive.
- I'm booting from the Tiger CD so that there are no open files or other issues that would prevent a good backup from occurring.

I've done this before and it's worked fine. I'm wondering if this might be somehow related to 10.4.10, the last time I did a backup like this I was running 10.4.9

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Answer 5

Oct 1, 2007 9:09 PM in response to otheroom

Hello! Most of us haven't had any problems cloning from the boot drive especially using SuperDuper. I suppose you could boot into safe mode for the clone as Kappy suggests. Tom

Kappy's Steps to Produce a bootable clone
Prep external FW drive:
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (journaled, if available) and click on the Erase button. This step can be skipped if the destination has already been freshly erased.
4. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
5. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Select the startup or source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
8. Select the destination drive on the Desktop and press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. At the bottom in the Ownership and Permissions section be sure the box labeled "Ignore Permissions on this Volume" is unchecked. Verify the settings for Ownership and Permissions as follows: Owner=system with read/write; Group=admin with read/write; Other with read-only. If they are not correct then reset them.

For added precaution you can boot into safe mode before doing the clone.

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Answer 6

otheroom Author

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Oct 2, 2007 2:30 PM in response to otheroom

I ended up downloading SuperDuper and got the clone made.

I do wish I know what the Diskutil error meant and why it happened.

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Answer 7

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Oct 2, 2007 3:19 PM in response to otheroom

From the MacErrors.h file, this is the error:

unitEmptyErr = -22, /*I/O System Errors*/

Whether or not that helps, I'm clueless. AFAIK, Disk Utility can restore the boot volume to another volume without any problems. However, since you're getting an error, something's amiss with the boot volume. Create a new admin user account, log into it, and see if works there. If so, the problem's due to a conflict or corrupted file associated with DU in the original. If not, then reinstall the latest COMBO update and see if that fixes the issue. If none of those work, do an Archive & Install installation.

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Answer 8

Jpfresno

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Oct 2, 2007 4:02 PM in response to otheroom

*Hi otheroom, Welcome* to Apple's Users Help Users Forums.

http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html

Purchase at $27.95 will allow smart backups that look at the bu files and only move over new ones. It's quick at ~7 mins to change ~1 gig out of 20. 🙂

Be sure to test that the clone boots and apps behave properly.

Good Luck, JP

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Answer 9

otheroom Author

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Oct 2, 2007 4:50 PM in response to baltwo

Thanks for the info baltwo.

My main concern was that there was an issue with my boot volume but diskutil, techtool, and diskwarrior all tell things are fine.

I always download the combo updates from Apple and install them in single user mode rather than use Software Update just to be careful but I it can't hurt for me to reapply it.

I'll give those suggestions a try.

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Answer 10

otheroom Author

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Oct 2, 2007 5:00 PM in response to Jpfresno

Thanks JP,

The first thing I did after doing the backup with SuperDuper was to make sure it booted properly.

I've got four drives that I cycle through for monthly snapshots of my boot volume so I don't need the incremental backup feature of SuperDuper for those.

I do backup my data partition which holds all my audio projects, graphic design, and web development work but for that I just use this terminal rsync command to do the incremental backups:

rsync -aEvr --delete /Volumes/Data/Projects /Volumes/ProjectsBackup/

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Answer 11

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Oct 2, 2007 5:29 PM in response to otheroom

Since you're using rsync, you might want to visit http://www.bombich.com and check out CCC 3. Bombich has an enhanced rsync incorporated that might do a better job.

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Answer 12

Jpfresno

Level 4

3,020 points

Oct 2, 2007 5:30 PM in response to otheroom

Glad to have been helpful. 🙂 My best, jp

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