I like to keep my hints very simple, so if you are a beginner pass this one by. I have found a program that will clone your hard drive to DVD or to a external USB drive. It will also put it into a separate partition on your internal drive but I see no advantage for this. It will let you boot from a rescue CD that loads all the drivers you will need to restore your OS.
Have lots of time before you use this program as it may take 12 or more hours to clone your drive if its large. Did I mention it is $60.00 A cheap investment when the big crash occurs !
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/Below taken from their Web Page:
Acronis True Image 8.0
The complete disk imaging, system disk backup, and bare metal restore for workstations and home PCs. Acronis True Image allows to create an exact disk image for complete system backup and disk cloning providing the most comprehensive data protection. The disk backup file contains the exact copy of a hard disk, including all the computer data, operating system, and programs. After a system crash you can restore the entire system or simply replace lost files and folders from your disk backup. Based on the exclusive Acronis Drive Snapshot disk imaging technology, Acronis True Image allows you to create an online system disk backup without reboot to keep the system productive. The product provides the fastest bare metal restore dramatically reducing a downtime and your IT costs.
Features
* Create the online disk backup image
* Restore the entire system and/or individual files and folders
* Create and restore online disk backup images in Windows without reboot
* Schedule automated backups
* Create incremental disk backup images
* Built-in disk image verification tool
* Clone and upgrade disk drives
* View backup logs
* Automated, wizard-driven operations
