System Backup, HELP~!

[georgebrower]

I'm bringing my macbook pro in for service and I'm trying to back up my hard drive in case they decide to wipe it.

I've used SuperDuper to create a .sparseimage from my "Macintosh HD," which I'm storing on an external USB hard drive.

If my laptop comes back wiped how can I use this image to restore my system?

How come when I mount the .sparseimage and look through it, the applications folder is empty?

Thanks in advance for any help you guys can give me.

[dnanian]

First, you're better off backing up directly to the drive, rather than to a sparse image. But, with a sparse image, you can still restore -- see "Recovering from a disaster" in the User's Guide.

I don't know why the Applications folder would be empty if you did a "Backup - all files". It certainly shouldn't be!