which settings to do this specifically...

[bchern]

disk utility may have delivered a final blow, but only after the new copied system failed to boot in spite of being selected as Startup Disk in System Preferences.

Mistakenly thinking I had booted from the new system, I ran repair permissions on that drive. (I know, I could have told I was not booted from it if I'd noticed the enabled "repair disk" button.) So, repair permissions proceeded to do something I've never seen it do before, "repair" a symbolic link. to wit:

"Repairing permissions for “haffanikkel”
Determining correct file permissions.
Symbolic link ./mach->mach_kernel repaired

Permissions repair complete"

What would be the ramifications of this? And any hope of ever making this disk bootable at this point?