[umkcdds]

Please excuse me for being lazy and not reading the manual, but.....

I am considering installing Leopard on my iMac, BUT, i don't want to lose anything, or screw anything up.

Is SuperDuper the program I need to protect my files?

I am hoping to be able to make a clone of my entire HD and current OS, on an external HD, before doing the upgrade. My big question is, once I make the clone on the external HD, how would I go about getting that clone back onto the iMac, if needed?

If I make a clone of my existing HD, onto an external HD, will I be able to use the clone if something goes wrong with the new Leopard install? If so, what process would I use to transfer the clone back onto my iMac? My guess is that I would re-start, after going into System Preferences, and select the cloned volume on the external HD. Once it has re-started from the clone, just use SuperDuper to re-clone back onto the iMac. Is this right?

My other question is about the install of Leopard. Would this be possible: Do a brand-spanking new clean install of Leopard onto the iMac, then use migration assistant to bring over my stuff from the clone? Would that copy music, photos, applications, user files, etc into Leopard?

Any other tips for making this transition smooth (i.e. keeping all my stuff from the old version, while running the new Leopard)?

Thanks for any help, instruction, or advice you can give!