Advice with backing up my Macbook to an external hard drive

[chipinator]

I'm currently using a Macbook Pro running Mac OS X version 10.4.11. and want to back up all my stuff to an External HDD (AZIO 3.5" sata to usb 2.0) I'm starting to hear strange sounds coming from the left side. Searching through youtube I've found an app called Super Duper which should do the trick because I don't have time machine yet or leopard. In reading Super Duper's User's Guide.pdf it states:

Caution!
If you choose a destination volume that already has files on it, those
files may be overwritten by the backup operation. The exact behavior
of SuperDuper! is defined by the During copy section of Options…,
discussed below.
So, this might be a good opportunity to partition the drive with Disk
Utility: it’s always best to isolate your backup from your regular
“storage”!

I don't want any of the files I have on the external over written and
I really don't know what partitioning the drive means. Can I still partition my external HDD even if I've already have files stored in it. Reading further into the pdf it states I can use disk utility to partition the external HDD. I don't know how this is done. Any advice would be very appreciated

Thanxs

Chipinator

 

[Angelo95210]

No you can't change partitions when there is files on it. Or if anyone else would told you the opposite I would be careful as it can be a dangerous game.

Yes, SuperDuper formats the disk before doing the clone. What you can do is to create a disk image on your external hard drive with MacOS Disk Utility. Then use this image in SuperDuper and this should be fine. I did it many times like this.