CCC VS. TM Cloning

I just bought 10.6 and I am prepping until it arrives, I currently have a external HD and been using CCC to backup all my stuff (It works great, not problems at all). Now, 10.6 has Time Machine, I have read that this is not a cloning tool ONLY a backup. Does this mean that if one day my internal HD dies and I want to boot from my ext. HD I cannot since TM only doe backups not clones? Should I just stick to CCC or use TM? I would like to boot up from my ext. HD, I'm just not sure if TM can do this

TM is just a backup utility. If you lost a drive, you'd still have to replace it, install the OS on it and restore the data from TM.

CCC, or better yet, SuperDuper both make full bootable backups that you can instantly recover from.

I have done this twice now so know it works. I have my TM backup on my external. Put in a larger drive in my Intel Mini. All I had to do is boot from the 10.5 DVD and from one of the menus select restore from Time Machine Backup. It restored and booted like I never put in a new drive.

CC is better as it will boot all by itself without the 10.5 DVD to start the restore but TM works the way I stated above.

Another vote for SuperDuper.