Reformat HD and re-install OS first -- possible?

[tintypes]

OK, I followed the plan, except that I installed a brand new system on the new drive and then used Migration Assistant to copy back everything (except System files) from my SD! clone.

So far (about 5 days), everything seems to be running OK. The biggest noticeable glitch was that the rebuilt iTunes Library lost track of quite few music tracks and podcasts. Turns out they're all in my Itunes Music folder, just not listed in the Library file; it's a pain, but all I need to do is drag and drop the "missing files" back into iTunes again and voila, they're listed again (right place, right info, etc). Knock on wood -- aside from this one issue, iTunes is behaving well again.

Thanks again for the assistance.