rsync anomalies (OS X Tiger)

[Lee Cullens]

In my first post I explained how I did a full direct clone to another HD 
using asr  and was trying to use rsync for a differential update of the 
clone but was getting an error I didn't understand the reason for.  I 
thought maybe I misunderstood the H option so I took it out, but still 
got the following error (on the second differential update, never the 
first):

rsync: rename 
"/Volumes/LaCie_Disk_B/System/Library/CoreServices/.BootX.ItPCZ0" -> 
"System/Library/CoreServices/BootX": Operation not permitted (1)
rsync error: some files could not be transferred (code 23) at 
/SourceCache/rsync/rsync-20/rsync/main.c(717)

Then I added an excludes file and after adding 
/System/Library/CoreServices/* to the excludes file the error went 
away.  Now my excludes file contains:

/tmp/*
/proc
/Network/*
/Volumes/*
/private/cores/*
/System/Library/CoreServices/*
/.Spotlight-V100/*
/Users/*/.Trash
/Users/*/Library/Caches
/dev/*
/afs/*
/automount/*
/.TemporaryItems/*
/private/tmp/*
/private/var/run/*
/private/var/tmp/*
/private/var/vm/*
/private/var/spool/postfix/*

and I run rsync with (first 4 lines echos):

SOURCE: /Volumes/Mirrored_HD_Set/
DESTINATION: /Volumes/LaCie_Disk_B
EXCLUDES FILE: /Users/Chinook/ShellScripts/diffcloneEXCLUDES
rsync STDOUT: /Users/Chinook/Desktop/DiffCloneStdout_20050820_015129

sudo rsync -axEuvv --delete --exclude-from=$EXCLUDES $SOURCEREF 
$DESTVOL_MP > $DCSTDOUT

Even though the error went away, I don't understand why it did not 
originally appear until the second differential update with rsync and 
I'm not sure if I'm disrupting the consistency of the clone with any of 
the excludes I now have.  I can boot to the clone, but I'm unsure yet of 
doing the ultimate test in restoring the clone to my working volume.

Would someone with a more intimate knowledge of the file system and 
rsync please fill me in a little more on why I was getting the error 
from rsync and if (given my rsync excludes list) now the clone should be 
safe to restore without introducing problems?  I know the original full 
direct clone is safe before using rsync.

Thank you,
Lee C
Dual 2.5 PM G5 OS X 10.4.2
rsync on Tiger is version 2.6.3  protocol version 28
And yes I've read the man pages numerous times and searched the web 
(especially ADC) looking for clarification.