I have a partitioned hard drive in my HPa820n with the HP recovery files on D: and everything else on C: so that I can reinstall the computer to its original state with those D: files. I have backed them up separately, as one would expect to for partitions.

I have a homemade external drive (300gig), as John describes, that I put together to save particular files (the music I'll be working on that is from my Dad's recordings). I have a separate regular external 160gig hard drive that is also attached and is what I use for Ghost backups. (I got this first and built the other later). Neither of these is turned on unless I think I'll be using them that day (so they're not on very often). Boy, you should see the spaghetti hanging off the back of my computer desk!

Since I haven't used the homemade one much, and I need to backup my kids' computer, I'm considering setting up a couple of wireless cards and networking things through the router so I can backup from their computer to this drive. I'd at the same time set up my laser printer so they can print to it.

Finally, and most importantly, there is a big difference between the earlier version of Ghost and the one out now, and it is a lot easier to use. I don't think you can use the earlier Ghost with WinXP, so that is something else to consider--what OS are you using? If you've upgraded then you need to change out your Ghost. Since you have the earlier version you will be eligible for a rebate from Norton for upgrading, and they offer these regularly. They also offer a general rebate for the purchase of a new program, and I regularly see Ghost on sale with both rebates from places like http://www.outpost.com (the online version of Fry's Electronics). Be sure to click on and print the PDF forms that are offered online for the rebates, because they go away as soon as the sale is over. Your mail order receipt is what you use along with your rebate form and box cuttings to get the rebates. You can easily get this $90 program for between $0 and $20 that way. Keep your eyes open for it, it's well worth the trouble to make the switch.

SRS