I would not upgrade to sp2 without a good backup if the data on your system
is critical. Tom makes a good point about using an external drive for the
backup. I have a few things to add, but first I want to address your point
about the USB speed.

There are two components required for USB 2.0. The first is that the USB
port itself is a high-speed port. If the hardware is USB 1.1, the update
will not have any affect on the speed. If it is truly a 2.0 port, then the
update should provide the appropriate requirements to take advantage of the
speed. If it truly is a 1.1, your daughter's IPOD will never be able to use
it. I'm making the assumption it's an IPOD as that is the only MP3 device I
know of that absolutely requires a high speed port.

If this is the case and your laptop is the only option she has for syncing
her music, you can purchase USB 2.0 pcmcia cards to circumvent the problem.
I would expect to pay about $35 to $40 for one including shipping if you get
it online (check out Amazon.com, if you can believe it). You can probably
find one around that price locally if you live in a big city, but you might
have to hunt. I looked at the Best Buy site and they want $62 for the one
they have, which I think is unreasonable.

On to the copy process. Ideally you would make an image of your drive and
put it on the external. This would actually take less time than the copy as
the image would be compressed and transfer faster. However, imaging software
can be a bit tricky to use if you don't feel comfortable with the process,
so a complete backup may be more feasible in your situation. If you want to
tackle the imaging option, let us know and I'm sure we can come up with some
software options and solutions that would be amenable. Imaging software does
cost money, though (at least for a good app), and the backup will only incur
the cost of the external drive.

Should the backup be your option I would strongly suggest you NOT use the
Windows interface for this. It will take much longer than necessary. I would
use a command line and the xcopy application. You open the command line by
clicking "Start > Run", typing in "cmd", and clicking "OK". Once there you
want to type in the following:

xcopy c:\*.* X:\ /s /e /v /c

Where "X:\" is the drive letter for the external drive. I suspect it will be
E:\, assuming you only have a single partition on your hard drive. If you
want to know what all of the options for xcopy are, or what the above
options mean, type in "xcopy /?" from the command line and it will spit out
what is called the "usage" details.

Now, to address the last problem. If you do not have an XP installation CD,
you need to get one. Period. All this backing up will not do any good if
your operating system is completely broken by the update and you need to
reinstall. Microsoft says not to make illegal copies of the CDs, but
honestly, a copy of the CD is NOT illegal, no matter where you get it. What
IS illegal is to use a license key that you didn't pay for. The license key
for your system should be on a sticker somewhere near the battery, inside
the battery compartment, or on top of the memory cover. If you do not have
one of these stickers then you will need to purchase a new license key.
There is no [legal] way around that one.

One final word. You should be able to back up to whatever location you want.
I'll be honest, I don't have a version of XP Home to look at; I use XP Pro.
So, it may not work for you exactly as I outline this. However, you "should"
be able to go to "Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Backup",
and when the Wizard comes up there should be an option to "switch to
Advanced Mode" in the middle of the box. Click on this and go to the
"Backup" tab. At the bottom you will find a "Backup media or file name:"
field. Click Browse and select a file name and directory on the hard drive
to put the backup file. Here you select what is backed up as well.

Now, assuming you have enough hard drive space, you could create the backup
file on the local hard drive, and once completed save it to the rewritable
image drive. If the file is too large for a single disk (which I assume it
would be), my vote would be for using WinRAR to put it in archives and split
the archive files in to CD size chunks. Of course, the better option would
be to have the external USB drive connected to the system when going through
this process and simply selecting that drive as your backup file location.
All in all that is the simplest, easiest, and "quickest for recovery option"
way to do it short of using drive imaging software.

OK, long post, I know. Sorry about that. I'm out.

Cheers!
Kyle Elmblade

On Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 1:42 AM, jimmie <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I keep receiving notices to update my computer with SP2. I need to do this
> for other needs.
> my problems are:
> i dont know how to back up my computer or where to backup to.
> I don't know what to use to back up. Default goes to floppy a drive. Wont
> let me use drive d for a rewritable disk.
> i have quickbooks also on computer. Which is a Toshiba Satelite 1415,and
> windows xp home edition.
> I also have a non hi speed usb of 1.1?
> Is this an external way to make my usb a hi speed 2.0? my daughters mp3
> requires it to download from it music library.
>
> I also dont have my installation cd for xp, do i fear downloading w/out
> back up.
>
> thank you for any help or suggestions
>
> jimmie
>
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