[Solved] Backing up a hard drive

Hi:

I'm new here and just a *tad* rusty when it comes to DOS commands.
Also, please forgive me if this particular issue has been dealt with in this forum.
I suppose it to be a very basic (and vital) issue though.

We have Dell GX-280 desktop machine which is now about 5 years old running Win XP Pro, currently upgraded to SP 3.
It came supplied with a 160 GB SATA drive, which is the C: drive.
I also keep a lot of music, photos and some movies on an external drive, connected to the system via a USB port, so I called it the U: drive.

As I am now becoming increasingly concerned about drive failure and therefore want backups, I'd like to know if the xcopy command, properly employed, is sufficient to the task.

Soon we'll purchase a new drive, possibly a Seagate FreeAgent 1.5TB External USB drive, which I'd like to partition, one partition to hold the entirety of the C: drive, O/S and all, the other to include all the material on the current external U: drive.

Now I am aware that it's no problem copying everything in this manner, in terms of music files, videos, and the like, as I just tested it.
From U:\My Music I used: xcopy *.* U:\COPIED /e/h and I see that all 2170 files and 19 folders were copied.

But here is the issue with which I'd like your help:
Can I back up EVERYTHING on the current C: drive to another drive, a fully operational BOOTABLE drive, including the O/S, using XCOPY, or do I have to approach this otherwise?

Here is my intent: If the C: drive goes up in a puff of smoke (or smokelessly) one day, which I suppose to be inevitable, I want to be able to unplug it and plug in another to replace it and, without further ado, be up and running again with all original data.
More likely though, hopefully before disaster strikes, I'll soon replace the current 160 GB C: drive with a new Seagate drive, perhaps 750 GB or 1 TB, and copy everything to it, O/S included.

So, to XCOPY or not to XCOPY?

Your help would be much appreciated.

Cheers!

Michael

Thanks very much for your reply, and so quickly!
Your concise, to-the-point response and the software suggestion is much appreciated.
I'll look into it.
Cheers!

Michael

If you want to replace the drives, make sure the interface is the same. SATA versus SATA.
You can make a backup like UK_newbie says and restore it with an Acronis rescue CD without removing drives.

Right. That is what I did when purchasing a 320 GB external drive over a year ago.
I bought a separate enclosure for a Seagate drive, and one with a switchable fan. It seems to me that even though many external enclosures might be cool enough, it isn't likely to hurt having the extra cooling capacity of one that is fan cooled. Certainy the enclosure is cooler to the touch than is the case when the drive has been running awhile without the fan switched on.

Michael

SATA2 drives work with SATA1 ports.
If not you can put a jumper on the drive to limit it to SATA1 output.