[MilMascaras]

Hello Folks:
Consider myself expert level user of SD, using it for years.

but I am running into a consistent error recently:
I am making a master image of a new Mac (for restoration/testing purposes), and I am now newly getting the error message:
"Failed to copy files from Macintosh HD to ..."

I am making a new sparseimage from a Leopard 10.5.5 Image (that has been tested, Onyx maintenance run on it to confirm, etc), and have run into this error starting a couple months ago (my workaround was to use CCC).

But I always preferred SD for sparseimage creation and updating.
According to the log, SD choked due to:
"| Error | SD Copy: Error "Operation not permitted" encountered while setting HFS meta data for /Volumes/Leopard 10.5.5..."
(ps: this is the name the backup volume image/sparseimage I am trying to create)

So it looks like a meta data error that SD cannot copy?
Never seen this before with any backup program.
Can anybody enlighten me?
Thanks

P.S: Already researched the Users' Guide "Troubleshooting" section with no relief for this particular problem.