Accidentally trying to backup a new harddrive

I have no idea at all what you've done, but...

(I do not have a systems restore CD).

If it was your system disk that died, you will need to get one, then, as you need one to restore your system. Although the complete system is backed up in your Time Machine backup, you can't restore it without a system disk to boot from. Contact Apple for replacements for the system disks that came with your Mac.

Once you have a disk, you can restore by following the directions found at #14 in the [Time Machine FAQ|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html].

WMarc wrote:
So, my harddrive crashed and I got a new one. Luckily, I had backed everything up on an external harddrive. When I got my new harddrive, instead of using migration assistant and treating the computer as a new one, I tried to just use time machine back-up. Now, my new harddrive is full, yet I can't see any of the files, so I can't even delete them.

It sounds like you selected your internal HD and told TM to restore it? If so, from a Finder window's menubar, select +Go > Go to Folder+ and type /Volumes in the prompt. That should show an alias for every drive/partition on or connected to your Mac.

If there's an actual folder, that's where Time Machine put your stuff. Delete it.

As Thomas says, you need a Snow Leopard disc to do a full system restore. If your Mac came with Snow Leopard, follow his advice to get replacements. If it didn't, or if you're near an Apple store, buy a retail version for $29.

You might be able to use Migration Assistant, but you'll end up with at least one extra user account, and likely lose permission to see or restore from your backups.