Restore from clone without system?
 

My internal startup drive died this morning. I do have a bootable clone as well as Time Machine backups. It was recommended to me to install a new drive and do a fresh install of Yosemite, then restore from the TM backup. Well now, 4-5 hours later it's hanging on 11 minutes to go. I'll let it run over night if I need to, but am already anticipating having to go to plan B. Can I restore from the cloned drive to the new drive without restoring any of the system files? I think it would be best to have a fresh install of Yosemite rather than copying over whatever was cloned from a failing drive.

Sure. Clean install Yosemite (erase and install), then -- when it asks if you want to restore/copy from another Mac -- point at the SuperDuper! Backup volume. It'll bring in your applications and data, and leave the OS in place.

Thanks. Will this work if I'm booted from the SD Backup volume?

I assume Yosemite will let you select the drive to erase-and-install on (you may need to erase separately with Disk Utility), so, yes.