I restored from a Time Machine backup onto a new HDD, this was using a disc with OS X Lion
Upon boot, in verbose mode, the text hangs after initpool: offset = 0x08000000 size = 0x0800000.
I would be inclined to point to it being a RAM problem, but when another drive is hooked up, it goes on to list the partitions and then hangs. So it's most likely whatever sequence that happens right after the initpool function which is hanging
Why can't I get it to boot up? Also, I see something about the program Little Snitch starting, in case a third party program might be known to cause trouble.
Best Answer
A restore of Time Machine back to the drive will not restore it to a bootable state. You must install the OS onto the drive from the install download (Lion) or install disk (pre-Lion).
To do what you expected you need to make a clone of your boot drive. Use a tool like Carbon Copy Cloner. It makes an exact copy of your drive. If that drive happens to be your boot drive, then the clone is bootable.
Time Machine is great for recovering lost or earlier versions of your documents/data; Carbon Copy Cloner is great for keeping a current snapshot of your entire hard drive that is bootable. Use Both; I do.