nervous newbie - restoring drive after format

[se7enhedd]

I've used sd for a while now to clone my system HD. and now the time has come to use it!
my system has become more buggy over time and now, after i've buggered completely by meddling, I've decided to reformat the drive and start again.
my SD backup was updated every week or so, so contains a few of the niggles but is workable. Rather than copy the buggy OS back over, I want to reinstall a fresh copy of the OS and then restore my settings, files and applications from the SD clone. Can i do this, or is it all or nothing?

[dnanian]

What I'd do is CHECK YOUR BACKUP FIRST (start up from it). If you're happy with it, in general, then clean install Leopard (assumed) or Tiger to the internal. It'll prompt you to "copy from another Mac" during the install. Point that at the backup volume and it'll bring in your applications and data, leaving the fresh OS in place.

Alternatively, have you tried an 'archive and install'? It's very unusual to have a system get "more buggy over time" like this, and often it's best to diagnose what's wrong rather than toss the whole thing.

[se7enhedd]

I've had sleep issues for a while, and now trouble syncing my iPhone. I rebooted from my clone and everything was fine (I'm running off that now).
I tried restoring from my clone to the main HD, but the sync problem continued. I did an archive and install but now the phone isnt recognised at all.
Now I'd sooner just wipe the HD and start again, I just want to make sure if I restored from my clone to a fresh OS I wouldn't be copying bugs back over.

[dnanian]

Well, actually, it doesn't make much sense that it's working on the backup but, when you copy the copy back, it's failing. Perhaps your internal drive is failing?

[se7enhedd]

I didn't reformat the drive, just did a restore from backup. The dialogue did say that certain system and kernel files would be left untouched.

[dnanian]

Yes, but those are the same files that wouldn't be copied when the backup was made. Still doesn't make sense.