[TomGuy]

Then look into a nice imaging software like Macrium Reflect.

Absolutely!

I use CloneGenius which runs from CD/DVD drive and creates image files of my OS partition. It has saved me several times. I don't have to reinstall WinXP and all my programs from scratch. Backup/imaging usually takes about 40 minutes, non-compressed, for my 28gb OS partition and about the same time to restore to my last, best OS operation.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

It has saved me several times.

Indeed. I love Macrium Reflect. It uses VSS to take snaps while Winders is running. I do one per month for each of my systems and laptops then rolloff the old ones. All reside on a huge USB drive. This has saved my bacon several times. DR is as easy as booting with a premade CD and re-imaging from The Archives. So sweet...it's giving me a sugar buzz!