Can I use a time machine backup after I reinstall OSX?

[GoCubsGo]

I have to take my MacPro in because I believe this thing is supposed to be quiet and I can hear my fans running loud and fast constantly. That said, I refuse to hand over my machine with my personal data. I was considering swapping the 500GB drive in bay #1 with a 1TB drive that I have sitting in a box. Can I use the restore discs that came with my MacPro to install Leopard onto the new drive? If not, can I back up my 500GB (stock) drive using Time Machine, turn time machine off, reinstall OSX so it's essentially wiped, then upon return of my machine can I go back into TM and get back all my apps and such?

All I care about is not sending the machine with a hard drive full of stuff and ensuring my data is backed up so I can easily stick it back onto my drive.

 

[keantan]

I have to take my MacPro in because I believe this thing is supposed to be quiet and I can hear my fans running loud and fast constantly. That said, I refuse to hand over my machine with my personal data. I was considering swapping the 500GB drive in bay #1 with a 1TB drive that I have sitting in a box. Can I use the restore discs that came with my MacPro to install Leopard onto the new drive? If not, can I back up my 500GB (stock) drive using Time Machine, turn time machine off, reinstall OSX so it's essentially wiped, then upon return of my machine can I go back into TM and get back all my apps and such?

All I care about is not sending the machine with a hard drive full of stuff and ensuring my data is backed up so I can easily stick it back onto my drive.

All macs running leopard can indeed be restored from a time capsule back up.

 

[sickmacdoc]

For simplicity, I would think that your idea of simply installing the 1Tb drive and installing a base system from your System Restore disks would be great. No concerns about your backups working or being restored- just pull out your existing drive as you mentioned, stick the 1Tb in and install OSX on it and you are ready to head in to Apple. When you get back just swap drives and you are right back to the same place you were before.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Thank you both. I think I'll just toss that 1 TB in and call it a day. If we could only rely on Apple to not fux things up.