[rberry88]

I have a 250GB Lacie external FW HD that I want to basically back all the stuff on my main HD up to so I can do a clean install. My questions:

1. I cleared the external HD but would still like to use it in the future to store stuff along with my backups (I plan to do the Smart Update).

A. Should I partition the external HD so one partition is used for backup(s) and the other partition used how I want?

2. When I do a backup and then a clean install, can I just drag and drop folders and applications back to my new clean install? Or can I do a restore so I don't have to take forever dragging and dropping?

3. I don't want to lose any of my email messages that are currently in Microsoft Entourage and Mac Mail, when I back up the drive before the clean install, is there anything special I should do to make sure my emails don't disappear?

Thanks in advance for any help, looking forward to getting on the backup (for ease of mind) path.