Format/restore question...

[Nave05]

Lately my mac has been running sluggishly and i think its about time for a fresh format/reinstall. Before i go erasing things:

Is it possible for me to make a disk image of my entire MacHD (once ive weeded out some unnecessary apps and stuff) and then, once i format and reinstall OS X 10.4, just restore it completely using that .dmg?

I have never used the Restore utility before so i am not very savvy with it at all. On a similar note, is there a way to do a Mac version of Windows' "System Restore"? Please let me know because i think Restore is a neat feature but i cant really see its full potential.

 

[rolex54]

one of the best things you can do is just drag and drop
drag over all your applications, documents, movies, songs

that way everything is fresh and you are not bringing over unnecessary files
also do not drag over applications from CD's
just reinstall them later

P.S. This is from a user who had migration assistant corrupt a backup of my HD and lost tons of stuff

 

[Nave05]

ok cool...so youre saying just select all the apps, songs, movies, etc. that i want and make a .dmg of those? just wanna make sure i understand you correctly before i do anything.