TinkerToolSystem: Lion build 11C74 fails file copy with emulated attributes

Have you tried:

Reinstalling Lion Without the Installer

Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alterhatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.

Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.

When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.

Reinstall Lion: Select Reinstall Lion and click on the Continue button.

Note: You can also re-download the Lion installer by opening the App Store application. Hold down the OPTION key and click on the Purchases icon in the toolbar. You should now see an active Install button to the right of your Lion purchase entry. There are situations in which this will not work. For example, if you are already booted into the Lion you originally purchased with your Apple ID or if an instance of the Lion installer is located anywhere on your computer.

Before doing anything drastic, or anything at all for that matter, why don't you ask the developer of that third-party application what the message means? I don't think it means your system is corrupt. It means the Lion Finder is not copying some extended attribute, which may be perfectly normal.

You don't have one single particle of evidence that something is wrong with your drive or anything else. You don't have a usability problem. All you have is an ambiguous test result from a third-party utility, and you're going to take back the machine?

I have a prediction. When you get the new machine, or the new drive, or whatever, and run the same test, you'll get the same result. If it were possible to make bets on this site, I'd be in for $1000.

This is why I warn people to stay away from "utilities." They're all crap.

Since TinkerTool System does not actually determine any system failures I would simply ignore the message. Chances are it's really a bug occurring because it isn't fully compatible or you happen to be using an older version of it.

There is really only one reason to use TinkerTool System - clearing caches. That you can do easier by using Lion Cache Cleaner.

The single answer I've gotten from any tool that suggests an identifiable problem --- is this one.

You've seized upon the one piece of information that is least likely to be related to your problems. Kernel panics call for a specific troubleshooting procedure. If you haven't already done so, I suggest you start a discussion that addresses the issue directly. Include the most recent panic log.

I also have TinkerTool System and I have a dual-boot SL-Lion setup.

I just tried that test in both systems, using a newly formatted USB flash drive containing only a single newly-created "empty file" as one target for the test, and a new empty Desktop folder as the second target. I got the same result as you did for both Snow Leopard and Lion -

"Copying files with emulated extended attributes" - failed

While running the test, I could see a brief Finder copy-window that said "Moving TestFile.png to "untitled folder".

I have no such TestFile.png file. I think it probably is supplied by TinkerTool System itself when it tests the copying of "files with emulated extended attributes". In other words I think that particular test probably says nothing about one's own files - it is just trying to measure Finder's copying performance, using its own file. And as I said, it reported failure in both my SL and Lion systems.

Operationally, both of my systems are working OK. I doubt that this means much of anything - I would ignore the result.