Here's a photo tour of how I do mine(since it's easy to show). I have a huge single file under my photos files that is labeled 'conifer collection'. This contains the several dozen genus/species I collect/grow and has individual folders leading to individual cultivars. Once in the cultivar folder, I have simply the name and then year(with special details in parenthesis). This will allow me to have a lengthy chronological sequence of pictures I can refer back to. While it's time consuming, the Winter here are horrendously dreary, and thus I am allowed plenty of time to work on it. The entire 'Conifer Collection' folder with it's 3,000 photos and 1,400 folders still fits onto a single DVD which I backup twice a year onto a disc. Someday, I'll be glad to share them with whoever asks, once I make proper corrections and have 3-4 years of growth on 99% of my plants to show people. -Will

If he really does not know what he is doing he runs the risk of wiping out his C drive, personally I do not suggest trying partitioning for those that are not fairly computer experienced, with out guidance at hand. I see every day, people who were trying to partition their windows to put in linux or some other OS on part of the drive, and are now frantic because some how all their stuff is gone. Since he already has the 2 partitions, I think you have the best way to go with what you have told him to do use it exactly as it is and keep his C drive nice and clean, put his data and stuff on the other partition. At the same time go through and clean out and eliminate completely what is no longer needed. Every linux live cd comes with a great partition tool built in and you can get a linux live cd free or burn an iso of a distro to make your own live cd. This link is one that was given to me way back when I first needed to partition a drive for my linux, it does a good job of covering the basics. Studying several of these tutorials is always an excellent idea. How To: Repartition Your Hard Drive For Free Without Formatting or Losing Data and before doing anything I sure would get one of the free drive imaging programs and do a few images of the drive in case something goes bad.

I still haven't done anything with the drive as yet. I also have Acronis True Image, version 9. I have used it with an Iomega external drive that I have with my desktop computer. But there are things about it that I find confusing. That's why I was wondering about just using the Windows 7 backup since I thought I understood that it was an imaging type of backup. So what is the difference between "ghosting", and "imaging"? Do both do "clones" of the OS? I want to keep things as simple as possible. Owbist, if I do not intend to use the software that is on the drive, I do not need to copy it to the computer HDD do I? Yes, I do understand using a different drive letter for the external drive. With my desktop, that happened automatically. Don't know whether the Acronis software did that or the Iomega drive itself. I have three USB ports, so I think those have drive letters also. I just don't want to have to be re-doing something that should be fairly simple (I hope).

Portable vs external - there's no standardization of terms. Though, "portable" drives are often the smaller 2.5 inch laptop drive variety, while "external" often use the larger 3.5 inch drives and so the case they're in is larger. Function and use are the same, with one exception: The larger drives often need an external (AC) power supply, which makes them less convenient to use. The smaller ones are usually powered by the USB connection itself. Don't be sucked in by marketing hype, drives are commodity products and most drives of known manufacturers (like Hitachi, WD, Seagate) are of equal high quality. These things are often on sale, if you look around, you're likely to find what you want in the $60-$80 range. Also, keep in mind that all hard drives ultimately die. Think "When", not "If". If you want to be certain to have your important files (whether photos or otherwise), make two backup copies and keep one copy at a different location (like at work or at someone else's house).