When I saw my desktop boot up I almost cried.
Here's how I got it back.
Guessing the fact I gave a new user name on the new install I blew away my netInfo db (after making a copy), deleted the .AppleSetupDone file and rebooted. There I got the Welcome to apple intro (I've filled in 20x in the last 4 days) and gave my original username. Then my machine came back as it was before I lost my OS. So pleased.
Here are some lessons learned:
*Get a remote hard drive you can boot from. When I bought SD I had no idea that all remote HD's weren't bootable. My Fantom isn't. I will buy one that is .
*If restore fails when using Disk Util on the Apple restore DVD, try restoring using Disk Util on the re-insatlled OS on your machine.
*When you create your login info the first time your new OS install starts, use the same user name that is on your Backup. All kinds of file permision probs will ensue if not. (Here is a helpful page on how to either reenter your user info on an existing OS or how to change user and CHOWN and CHMOD your way back to a single username
http://www.afp548.com/articles/syste...nfobackup.html)
*SD (even with the step rebuild learning curve and weird probs) saved the day and is worth 10x the price! Thanks Dave.