Very Strange Problem With App Store and Cloned Volume...
 

I contacted iTunes support because the App Store keeps insisting that I need to upgrade a number of apps that are the current versions. Apple tech support had me trash the apps and reinstall them. But when I checked my Applications folder none of the apps were present but one of them was open and functioning properly.

I have an external drive connected via Firewire 800. It has a cloned copy of my Mac Mini internal disk. I never designated the external drive as my boot drive and I see no indication that the Mini was booted from it.

So following a hunch I ejected the external drive. Indications are that the problem apps that were open may have been running from the external drive instead of the internal. After force ejecting the partitions I again downloaded the apps and they are now in the Applications folder on the Mini internal drive. (If the external drive had been the boot drive I would not have been able to eject every partition…)

So it appears that App Store is somehow seeing the external drive apps as needing updating even though they are the current versions. And the apps that are open are on the external drive.

I suppose that I could have mistakenly selected an app on the external drive as a login item, but I doubt it. Plus the apps that have an "automatically open at login" option in their preferences made the same mistake.

I am wondering if anyone else has run into this problem or may have some insight into what is happening. I have replied to iTunes support explaining what I discovered but I haven't heard back as of this writing.

Sounds like a bug in the App Store - I'd try rebuilding your LaunchServices database with the backup drive ejected.

Thanks for the suggestion Dave. I rebuilt Launch Services this morning using Cocktail; so far, so good. Apple is prepared to escalate my ticket if the problem persists.

I've never experienced anything like it... :rolleyes:

An Update...
 

I tried rebuilding the Launch Services database but the problem was not fixed.

I contacted Apple tech support this morning. The fellow who helped me had used SuperDuper! in the past so he was familiar with the utility.

We ascertained that the problem occurs only when the external drive is powered-on and connected to the Mac Mini at startup. (It might happen if I power-on the external drive after booting the computer and check for updates, but I haven't tested it...) It doesn't matter if the apps on the external drive are current versions; the App Store indicates that they need to be updated. (But this morning the App Store showed an app that needed to be updated while the button was grayed-out with the word "installed." Curious!)

The tech rep told me that we could elevate the issue to a senior tech support rep but he didn't think that it would provide us with a fix. When he spoke with that department while I was on hold he was told that they didn't have a fix. And since Apple considers Time Machine to be the approved method for backing-up data, they don't consider this to be a Mountain Lion "bug." So I shouldn't hold my breath waiting for it to be addressed in a future update. They will make a note of the problem but it is not a priority for a fix as far as Apple is concerned.

There certainly seems to be a glitch somewhere with Apple's software, since this has never happened to me in the past. But Apple doesn't seem to be inclined to deal with it even if other people report having the same problem.

Tell them that making a copy with Disk Utility, and having it attached, does the same thing. :)

It's a bug and, yes, it sounds like they're not going to fix it or care, but we can hope.