THANKS AGAIN.
I did back up 15 gigs of files using USB 2.0 today. When I get my 6 to 4 pin Firewire adapter, I will be able to compare speeds. It will be interesting to see what difference it makes. It is nice to have everything on one HD.
Ro Ro
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp
Here is a FREE disc imaging program that I’ve been using for a few weeks now. Very nice gui and fast (at least for me). Works well on vista 64 bit ,paragon let me down on this one . The free version does require you to use the boot cd to restore an image. Can backup to external drives or dvd so really there’s no reason for people not to have a full backup solution in place. 
Hope this helps,tim
Did you test it? Does it really works on a running Windows, i.e., backup the whole partition while it’s in use? Wow! Seems promising…
Hi,yes it does. I may be wrong but I believe most imaging programs will create an image while running windows. For sure paragon and acronisTI do.
I have had good luck with both the USB connection and the Firewire 400 connection. I realized that I already had a 6 to 4 pin adapter cable that I had used for a camcorder. The Firewire is faster. After backing up both my laptop and desktop computers, I still have 400 gigs left. Buy.com was selling it for $109.99 with free shipping last time I looked if anyone is interested.
http://www.buy.com/cat/firewire_hard_drives/450.html?dcaid=17873
RoRo
Yes it does, you can also schedule backups but the free version doesn’t have incremental/differential backups. Tried it a few months ago on Vista 32bit, worked well for me. Very fast at creating a full system image.