Preemptive strike!
 

I am replacing my internal HD in three days. It still works but is going. I will put Leopard back on it and then use SD to restore all else, (I hope, LOL.) or should I just use SD to put everything on it from the get-go including Leopard? I have an iMac PPC G-5 Rev A so there has been a lot of changes since I bought it (Panther, tiger, Leopard), does all this matter in the scheme of things?

SD is on an external firewire HD. I looked at pages 27 & 28 of your manuel and read your response in gordonvp's post. Is there anything else I should do in preparation or copying back to the internal HD.

I appreciate all the assistance you have given me over time.

Well, generally I'd suggest a full restore. But if you want, it easy enough to put in a fresh OS. Install Leopard clean to the new drive and then, when prompted to "Copy from another Mac", point it at the backup. It'll bring in your applications and data.

I think I might want a full restore then, less steps for me, Right?

Any disadvantages to this? Is there a different procedure if I start from a "blank" internal HD

Since you've gone through so many updates, why not give the migration a shot as described? Can't hurt, and actually it's quite simple.

I'll do it, thanks.