[dnanian]

Drive data is drive data. It doesn't matter what drive you're copying from - if it's properly set up as a bootable drive, and you're using the right settings/script, the result will be bootable. If not, it won't be.

In other words, say you use "Backup - all files" with Smart Update to copy from your startup drive to a USB drive that doesn't support boot on a Power PC. You then do the same from that USB drive to a FireWire drive which does support boot. The result will be bootable.