How do I transfer all from laptop computer to ext. hard drive while I send laptop for repair?

Question

I have an external 20 gb HD I bought, but what do I click on to get everything from my laptop to the hard drive? Obviously, not Computer savvy, so need specifics. Thanks~

Answer 1

Most external hard drives have a "one touch" backup button usually you can just hit that and it will copy most of the information from the pc's hard drive. Also most drive manufacturers have tutorials about how to backup a system.
the best thing you can do is use a drive cloning software and clone one drive to the other, however the external you bought must have a removable drive so you can boot the pc from it. however if youre sending it to a shop the only thing i would backup is my media and documents, programs can be reinstalled if they're lost.

Answer 2

If you don't have an external hard drive you can save your personal files to CD's and it's a good idea to do this periodically, I also use a flash drive to back up stuff that I want to save, especially all my precious photos.

Answer 3

All you can do is transfer all files visible, even if you select show hidden files and folders. Hidden sytem files will not be copied, so you cant just copy back and expect it to act as an Operating Sytsem. But it will save personel files and executable files that you can restore at a later date.
Eamonn.

Answer 4

This may be some help-
http://www.snapfiles.com/Freeware/system/fwdisktools.html
there are many copy hard drive programs out there..