Smart Update or erase & full restore?

[badlydrawnboy]

Well, I just started having the "dock problem" while booted to the full volume, so I think you're right Dave that I should probably restore from my clone, and use Time Machine to find the files that have been changed since that time.

Luckily, I've been primarily working out of one folder during that time, so most of the files I need should be fairly easy to locate. The other main place where files have been changed, though, is in Mail. I'm not sure how to find/retrieve email messages that have been stored locally in Mail since the clone. Seems like a real pain.

Of course, it's probably still easier than a complete erase and reinstall, and then restoring from TM - which seems to be my other option.

I'll tell you, I've had so many problems with Apple & OS X the past couple of years. It's not like I'm running any hacks or crazy applications... just Apple & Adobe and a few shareware programs. But I've run into stuff like this and had to reinstall SEVERAL times over the past few years.

I've had this new Mac Pro for just a few weeks, and I'm already at it again.
Sheesh.