"Was wondering if I can just stick the Snow Leopard disc in to install OSX or do I have to install Leopard and then Snow Leopard?"
That depends on WHICH Snow Leopard DVD you bought.
If you bought the $30 upgrade DVD, _YES_, you can do that.
If you bought the $9.95 upgrade DVD, _NO_, you can't. The cheaper DVD will only install SL over an "existing copy" of Leopard.
"Also, believe it or not this will be my first time restoring from a backup. When I reformat the computer I can just plug my external in and pick and choose the things I want to put back on the computer right? Dont have to do a full backup?"
If you have an external drive that can be used as a "clone backup", to this:
- Download CarbonCopyCloner (it's free)
- Use CCC to "dupe" your internal drive to the backup drive.
- Install a clean copy of SL to the internal drive.
- Establish new accounts on the internal, get it updated via "Software Update"
- Connect the external drive and start "migrating" your old files back over. You can use either "migration assistant", or, do it manually. I like manually better, gives me more control over what gets moved.
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
When you make a clone of your internal to the external, it will erase what's already on the external, UNLESS you specifically set up CCC to _not erase_ what's already on the drive. There is a choice to select in CCC to accomplish this.
