SD "copy all files" vs. Disk Utility "restore"

[jefman]

hi - sorry if my question wasn't appropriate for this forum. i've never used the cloning method of backups before. i'm trying to understand the difference between a clone made with SD, and one made with Disk Utility. just the fact that there *is* a difference makes me want to know what's really going on with my backups. is there somewhere else i should ask about this?

basically i'm trying to understand all the variables, so i can make an informed decision about the best backup strategy for me.

for example, i read that SD doesn't copy certain system files that apple recommends not to. presumably Disk Utility does, if it's doing a block copy. does that make any difference to anything? could one use Disk Utility to make the initial clone (for speed), then use SD with "smart update" to update it, or would there be some incompatibility? i also wondered if SD's cloning method is somehow more (or less) safe or accurate than a block copy. and there seemed to be an issue with Disk Utility making folders like /etc visible when they shouldn't be, whereas SD doesn't have this problem. and... what else might i be missing?

my other question was about the size of the backup partition. it seemed like it might be a good idea to make it larger than the source drive, to give it extra "working space", as discussed in the troubleshooting section. i do tend to keep my internal drive chock full. but then i noticed a lot of people in the forum are using Disk Utility to restore their backups to the internal drive when there's trouble. i don't really know what the reason for that is, but i guess there must be one? - and i wondered if having mismatched partition sizes would prevent this from working in case i needed it to.

i'm sure most of these things are irrelevant. but the thing is, the only way to test it all is to make a backup and then restore it. and if i've done something wrong along the way, i risk losing everything. so i guess i'm being a bit paranoid about making sure i do everything right the first time.