What's the easiest way to back up and restore my hard drive to a new HD

Question

I'm going to upgrade my hard drive to a larger one on my MacBook. I have an external backup drive. What is the easiest way to save all my data (documents, emails, etc) and applications and restore them to the new hard drive in my MacBook? I have Leopard OS.
I've read on the forum everything from using Time Machine to the Disk Utility. I have been backing up everything to my external HD using Time Machine.
Can you point me to a step by step process.

Answer 1

I don't use TM, so here's my method that I've used many times for the same thing you are doing.
How to Clone Using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (journaled, if available) and click on the Erase button. This step can be skipped if the destination has already been freshly erased.
4. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
5. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Select the startup or source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Now, boot from the clone to be sure it works correctly by opening Startup Disk, selecting the external volume, then clicking the Restart button. If all is well the computer will boot from the external drive. Now shut down the computer and disconnect the external drive. Disconnect the AC adapter and remove the battery. Install the new hard drive. Once you've completed the installation connect the external drive and restart the computer.
Now do the following:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your new hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process will take 30 minutes to an hour or more depending upon the drive size.
Steps 4-6 are optional but recommended for a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive.
After formatting is completed use DU to clone the external drive's system back to the new internal drive. The external drive becomes the Source and the internal drive will be the Destination.