How to backup a MacBook pro using 10.4.11 to an external drive?

Hi all!
I have a MacBook Pro with 10.4.11 and am going to update my OS version to the latest. I want to back up my entire computer onto my external drive first because I'm scared I'll lose everything. I have a 500 GB LaCie external drive (p'9223 porsche design, if that helps!). The guy at the apple store told me, and showed me how, to use Time Machine. I then get home and find out my computer didn't come with it, even though the Apple guy knew which MacBook version I had! So now I'm lost. I heard using the restore function in Disk Utility works but I'm not totally sure I underestand that whole idea. How do I easily back up everything onto this external drive?

Carbon Copy Cloner makes a 'snapshot' of your internal drive. I really wish that you had Time Machine - it would be much simpler to simply restore those files after updating your OS.
Go ahead and make the clone - and then just update your system to 10.6.x. You SHOULDN'T lose ANY DATA during the update or afterwards. The clone is only for safety's sake. I'm 99.8% certain that you will not lose any data by simply upgrading your OS.
That said, after the successful update, you can continue to use the clone method of backing up or use Time Machine. If I had to chose only one, I'd go with Time Machine because it makes incremental backups rather than one-time snapshots. I use both Time Machine and clones - having at least one of each is my preferred method.
Good luck,
Clinton

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martinvfraga wrote:
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