Are the backups performed at a genius bar different than using iCloud?

Question

Brought in our iPhone 4S (iOS software up to date) to visit a genius at a local Apple Store (there had been gremlins running around, blocking screen rotation and randomly resetting the volume).  It had been backed up (or should I be saying "sync'd") to iCloud prior to the visit.
They reset the phone, and handed it back with one issue (rotation) resolved with a kind word of education (actually more of a slight of hand "all you have to do is . . . ", but it gave us enough to find the toggle on our own), and the other (volume) not misbehaving while in the repair shop.  Hope was that the standard reset resolved it.  It hasn't, but that isn't our semi-immediate issue.
When we received the phone back (same afternoon), contacts were back in place, MOST notes had been returned, we were told to pull our applications back from iTunes, etc. to put the phone back in order, and our photos were still safely on iCloud.
Now after having used the phone a bit including taking additional photos (without allowing it to resync to iCloud), are we in trouble if we try to restore things like the photos?  Will they be added to what we have, or overwrite the new photos and leave only the old ones?
Any suggestions will be appreciated (including what I am missing in explaining the situation).  Thanks.

Answer 1

Restoring the backup will overwrite the data currently on the phone.  (In fact, you have to erase the phone in order to restore an iCloud backup.)  However, you can import the new photos in your camera roll to your computer using your usb cable before doing so, as explained here: iOS: Import personal photos and videos from iOS devices to your computer.  They can then be synced back to your phone using iTunes after restoring the backup.
Another option is to add the new photos to a shared stream as explained here: http://help.apple.com/icloud/#/mmc0cd7e35.  The shared stream will reappear on your phone after restoring the backup.  You can then save them back to your camera roll and delete the shared stream.  The only disadvantage to this approach is that photos added to a shared stream will be a somewhat lower resolution than the originals in your camera roll (approx. 3.1-3.5 megapixels).