Does Time Machine *really* back-up everything?

I've run into some problems with my computer and will have it repaired tomorrow. They will be replacing the hard disk, so I need to make sure I have everything before I give it to them tomorrow morning. I used Time Machine to back up things, so all should be fine. Theoretically, I guess... ;-)
I've now restored from Time Machine back-up to a different computer - this is the one I'll be using while my own is being fixed. But: About 40GB (of about 300GB in total) seems to be missing! The file number reported by Disk Utility is about the same (I've been using the "new" Mac for a day, so I expect it to be different), and I've used "du" in terminal to find out whether there are any major discrepancies but haven't found any. Maybe a few massive swap files that are ignored? Or what could it be?
Any idea what's going on???
Sebastian

No one is an idiot.
It is worth going to Apple's website and reading all the info on their pages about these products. They tell a lot and there are usually links to tutorials.
Time Machine backs up everything the first time. Then it only backs up changes. When you enter time machine you will seethe series of what ever folder you are in running back into space. You can go to a specific date and the version of say a letter will be in the state it was in at the time of that back up.
The same is true for the contest of a folder. If a back up runs at 2:00 pm and the you delete the file at 3:00 the file will remain in the 2:00 pm back up.
There is an option to exclude files from the back up. My opinion is that backing up the system files all the time isn't worth it. I find if there is a system problem I want to reinstall the whole thing fresh.
This works if you don't mind sitting through software installs.
Time Machine if left alone will back up the entire system and keep it current. Once the back up drive is full however it will start deleting old back ups. It will let you know it is going to do this. You can choose to let that happen or add a new drive. It isn't the best system for a permanent archive.
I have excluded everything but my home folder. I expect to get at least a years worth on my drive and at that point a new drive wouldn't be that big a deal.
Hope this helps.
Greg

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    Message was edited by: joshz

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