I've done it before. It's kinda fun to copy the C drive and paste it to another drive. You would have everything covered except a bootable hard drive in case you lost your main drive C someday.
A better plan would be to clone your C drive to the external. Then you would have a hard drive that you could use as a replacement in case the C drive ever failed. It could then boot up with your operating system and all programs, just as they were the day you cloned. It would mean taking the external HD out of the enclosure and sticking it in the computer, but much easier than buying a new HD and having to install an operating system and all programs again.
I use Acronis True Image for cloning, but there are others like Ghost or free cloning software.
Just my 2 cents, if I had a HD failure, I could be back online within 10 minutes with a spare cloned HD or a cloned HD from inside an enclosure that I could take out and use.
74.4 GB - wow, you've got some stuff there.

Randy,
Thanks so much for your reply. You got me thinking about my stuff in C. Don't know what I was thinking, that is my total size (capacity)I only have used 12.7 GB of space. So in other words, I can just copy C drive and store on WD Passport? Now when I want to add to that, say each week to back up, how do I do that? Will it keep copying over and over the same stuff?
Again thanks so much.
Carol

Carol, hopefully others will come along with their ideas so you can pick the best of the bunch that suits your style. I am like Randy and use Acronis True Image, mine is version 7, for my backups. You would need something similar for the initial backup. I got mine when Acronis made it a free offer for a while. The idea was to get us to use it then buy the upgrade, a nice ploy too but I have stayed with version 7 so far.

Regarding the timed backups of your personal data you might consider creating one folder for your work with sub folders for each program you use rather than allow each to store their work where they want it. Then it is a simple matter of copying that folder with all it's sub folders to the external drive any old time your heart desires.

Using the method I have described you will overwrite the previously saved data folder. You will be prompted to agree to overwrite so you then have a choice of renaming the folder if you want more than one copy of your saved work.

[Quote]Just my 2 cents, if I had a HD failure, I could be back online within 10 minutes with a spare cloned HD or a cloned HD from inside an enclosure that I could take out and use. [Quote].
I do that too with my laptop. I have a cloned spare HDD. But one has to remember, that cloned HDD is only good for up to the date you did it. All the programs/files etc that you have saved since that date wouldnt be there. Virus program renewels etc

The bad news is that I had a hard drive crash a month ago and lost absolutely everything. The good news is that we had purchased an external hard drive a month before the crash and had important things backed up (yeah!).

I recommend that you only back up your documents, photos, music, address books, financial stuff and things that cannot be replaced. You probably have the other programs on cd's and those would benefit from a clean install from disk once you are back up and running.

In my case, I ended up having to reformat the hard drive and reinstall (and update) programs *which was a good thing*. It made my computer run faster and resolved a whole bunch of issues that were building up over the years.

The stuff that was lost permanently I didn't want anyway (or was replaceable) and the important stuff was backed up and so no tears were shed at all. It was very nice to start fresh.

Thank you all so much for your advice, I really appreciate your input. Now I need to get busy, this WD passport comes with software supposedly I just need to connect with the USB port and go. I just cannot find anywhere on their info webpage about weekly back up. Maybe once I connect it I will be able to find out from the software. Has anyone ever used one of these? I googled Acronis True Image and saw it was 49.95. I'm kind of hoping I don't need any extra software, but until I plug this thing in I guess I won't know. Thanks again all.
Carol

I have a Maxtor One Touch. It comes with software, 'Retrospect' which automatically backs up the whole C drive nightly. I have a lot of data for work I cannot afford to lose. I have no idea how this thing operates, I just let it do it's thing. It backs up each night at 7pm. I don't even notice it's running.
I know there's a way to change the settings to just back up certain folders, but I can't figure it out. I tried once and messed things up. So now I leave it alone. I don't need my whole computer backed up every night, but I don't know how to change it. I think it's a 1 gig drive, it's small and I just leave it plugged in and never shut it off.

Don't know if that helps,

Jane

Yes, thank you Jane. I think that is what this is supposed to do if you if you leave it hooked up or just plug it in whenever. I think I read you can set it to back up daily, weekly, etc. But this came with a very short cable, so if I want to leave it I will need a 22" cable.
I'll let you know how I make out.
Carol

I second the Maxtor One Touch. So easy to use, literally it is "one touch" and your entire hard drive is backed up. You do nothing else, it takes care of everything, and you can take it with you if you need to transfer files to another computer.

The Maxtor One Touch sounds very much like the Passport. I backed up My Doc. and some programs that I downloaded and do not have disc for, my plug-ins that I use for Paint Shop Pro, my emails, favorites, and address book. It also saves my settings and desktop. Now I'll just have to see how it goes with updating in a week or so.
Carol

Carol, I sit the Maxtor on top of the tower. It's thin and flat and the cable isn't long. It just plugs in the back.

Good luck,
Jane