I'm not sure how these relate. Copying an application back would (assuming a drag and drop insta00 just mean copying the application from /Applications, on the backup drive, to the /Applications folder on the source. So, not sure how you were confused.
You should definitely be copying directly to a drive if that's an option. Don't use an image or bundle. See this blog post:
https://www.shirt-pocket.com/blog/in...rfect_backups/