I like to imagine he has everyone’s patterns stored and they only miraculously transport when he receives then from a backup

Like the episode when Riker was on trial for murder and he didn’t transport in until well after the station exploded

Maybe O’Brien filled in their memories with old and new pattern buffet info, but the original Riker exploded on the station.

"Have you seen my car?

“I saw the back seat of it…”

“No, I’m looking for the whole thing.”