How do I restore my Mac from an external recovery drive?

I cannot repair my main HD and is showing as gray in Disk utility. I have installed the OS and backed up my data on an external hard drive.
How do I reformat my HD using disk utility and restore the OS and my files from the external HD?

To move the iPhoto Library to the EHD just drag it from your Pictures folder to the EHD and let the copy complete.  Next launch iPhoto with the Option key held down till you get this window:
Next either select the library that's on the EHD if it's in the window or click on the Choose button, navigate to the EHD and select the library there.  Once you've confirmed that the EHD library is working correcly and all photos are there you can delete the library from your Pictures folder. 
NOTE:  the EHD should be formatted as shown in this screenshot:
As for the other two items do a search as rkaufmann87 suggested.
OT

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