Will a Time Machine backup be able to restore everything onto a new HD?

[DramaLLama]

I'm trying to do this optibay hard drive thing and I've got everything I need so now I'm just looking for a time this weekend to do it.

One question I still have though is, will a time machine backup from this current hard drive, once 'restored' onto the newly installed hard drive, be exactly the same? Is it that easy?

Also, the optibay hard drive: Is it going to be displayed as additional 'device' in the finder? Or can you/would you RAID them or what? (not entirely sure I'm using correct terminology) Is it just strictly a storage drive? (Would be fine by me but I"m trying to get an idea of what options I have.)

Could someone please list the processes for doing the installation as far as what needs to happen so that I get an exact 'clone' of what I currently have, but on my new hard drives? Thanks

 

[CloudMac.net]

There are a couple of options for you. Either install OS X to the new blank drive. When the install is complete and the computer boots, you will be presented with the option to migrate data from another source (computer, TimeMachine, etc...).

The other option is to use Carbon Copy Cloner to create a bootable replica of your system drive.

Here is an article outlining the steps for migrating to a new system using TimeMachine:

http://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/29/6-easy-steps-to-migrate-your-mac-using-time-machine/

More info on Carbon Copy Cloner is available here:

http://www.bombich.com/

 

[QuarterSwede]

One question I still have though is, will a time machine backup from this current hard drive, once 'restored' onto the newly installed hard drive, be exactly the same? Is it that easy?

Yes and yes. I've restored from Time Machine backup several times. All settings, apps and data will migrate over. Heck, even the Finder windows I had open were restored.

 

[DramaLLama]

How does the opti-bay hard drive work? Is it viewed as a separate hard drive in finder or can you set it up for RAID? (again, not sure of the term.. but the thing where you 'combine' the two hard drives so that it thinks it's one big hard drive)