SuperDuper! to the rescue!

Today, I changed the password on my Mac Air, Agog. I then cooked dinner, and watched a couple of episodes of Poirot. I came upstairs … and I don’t remember the password I set. It was a good one. I have backups a couple of different ways, but neither of them seemed to be immediately accessible to me. In order to recover from the Time Machine backups, I need WiFi configured *and* I need to mount the volume that has that sparse image on it. That path seemed blocked to me. But there’s a better way!

I make periodic backups of my system using a program called SuperDuper! Among other lesser capabilities, it duplicates the whole system onto another (external) disc, and makes that bootable. Except that when I booted while pressing the Option key … the USB external drive wasn’t being presented to me as a boot option, as the documentation says it should. Sigh.

After spelunking around in Recovery mode (hold Command-R while booting) for a while, and taking a break to walk the dog, I came back, and FINALLY, in Disk Utility , the Apple menu offered me the option to set the boot disk. I selected the AirDuper disk I’d refreshed just last weekend, and that’s what I’m booted into now. I’m using that to restore Agog’s internal flash drive, which is happening in the background as I write this.

Whew!

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Our condolences to the families, friends, and units of these fallen warriors:

• Staff Sgt. Carl E. Hammar, 24, of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, died July 14, in Khost province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered from enemy small arms fire.
• Sgt. Erik N. May, 26, of Independence, Kansas, died July 14, in Ghazni province, Afghanistan.
• Spc. Sergio E. Perez Jr., 21, of Crown Point, Indiana, died July 16, in Wali Kot District, Afghanistan, from injuries suffered when his vehicle was struck by enemy rocket propelled grenades.
• Spc. Nicholas A. Taylor, 20, of Berne, Indiana, died July 16, in Wali Kot District, Afghanistan, from injuries suffered when his vehicle was struck by enemy rocket propelled grenades.
• Sgt. Daniel A. Rodriguez, 28, of Baltimore, Maryland, died July 18, in Ghazni City, Afghanistan, when his vehicle was struck by an enemy improvised explosive device.
• Sgt. Jose J. Reyes, 24, San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico, died July 18, in Ghazni City, Afghanistan, when his vehicle was struck by an enemy improvised explosive device.
• Cpl. Joshua R. Ashley, 23, of Rancho Cucamonga, California, died July 19 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
• Spc. Krystal M. Fitts, 26, of Houston, Texas, died July 17 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, from injuries suffered from indirect fire.
• Senior Chief Aviation Warfare Systems Operator Sean P. Sullivan, 40, of St. Louis, Missouri, died in a helicopter crash July 19 in Oman.
• Naval Aircrewman (Helicopter) Second Class Joseph P. Fitzmorris, 31, of West Monroe, Louisiana, died in a helicopter crash July 19 in Oman.
• Pfc. Jeffrey L. Rice, 24, of Troy, Ohio, died July 19, in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
• Spc. Darrion T. Hicks, 21, of Raleigh, North Carolina, died July 19 in Ghazni, Afghanistan, from injuries sustained from an enemy improvised explosive device.