Backing up entire computer hard disk

Can anyone tell me how to back up my entire computer? I want to back up the entire contents so that in the event of hard disk damage, I can re-load my hard disk exactly as it is. I plan on backing up to an external hard drive and have firewire capabilities. I have an iMac G5, non intel, with 20 inch display. I am also wondering if the procedure would be the same for my iBook G4.
Thank you.
iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.2)
iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.2)

Scott:
In addition to Super Duper which Allan recommended, I use Carbon Copy Cloner, which is quite easy to use. In terms of organizing your FW HDD you may get some ideas from Dr. Smoke's Backup and Recovery. Although Dr. Smoke recommends the use of Retropect, which I found a bit cumbersome, his article full of good ideas.
Good luck.
cornelius

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Thinking that maybe the energy saver options were the cause of the problem, I unchecked "put hard disk to sleep when possible". So went through the same painful process. Cannot believe that after about 7 h of transfering the whole thing is stuck again:
More than 2 million items were apparently copied, now nothing is happening at all... (neither GB nor minutes changing anymore)
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2) Is there another way to transfer time machine back-ups to another hard disk?
Thanks!

This is getting (more) annoying: turned out that something went wrong with the 500 GB HDD with the original time machine back-up. Managed to repair it in the 3rd attempt with disk utility. Heard of SuperDuper and thought I'd give it a try.
Cloning the back-up disk to the new 1 TB HDD seemed to work well, but I am a bit surprised with the result:
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I'm attemping to back up my system, entire computer, hard drive w/ LaCie 500gb external drive.

I am attempting to back up my entire computer w/ an LaCie external drive. I don't have "airport", so I guess time machine will not apply, ? work. ? I am theathered w/ firewire 800. I have formated the disk, and need to know how to copy - back up the entire system, hard drive, ? I tried to click and drop it, but...
How do I accomplish this task. I want to have a back up of everything in case, (God Forbid), it happen's. And I have to turn my computer, and Iphone over to a frenesic firm to establish my surfing record. I could use any advice you have there as well. I tried the Apple store, but they just do repairs.
Thanks, Blessings, Bob

You certainly can use Time Machine. Firewire 800 is a great way to go.
You just have to activate Time Machine from System Preferences and tell it to use that LaCIe disk.
Mac 101: Time Machine
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To prevent auto sync, connect the iPod whilst holding down the 'control+shift' keys and do not let them go until your iPod appears in iTunes.
If you see a message that your iPod is associated with a different library and asks if you want to link to new one, make sure you press "Cancel".
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Then do any of the following to transfer your music from iPod back to the computer/iTunes.
For iTunes version 7 or later, then you can transfer purchased iTunes store music from the iPod to an authorized computer by using the "file/transfer purchases from iPod" menu. Note that the maximum of 5 authorized computers applies here.
Find out how to do that here.
How to copy iTunes purchases from an iPod or iPhone to a computer.
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Much easier ways are to use one of the many 3rd party programs that copy music from the iPod to the computer.
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iPodRip also has the feature enabling you to reconstruct playlists.
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Copying content from your iPod to your computer - The Definitive Guide.

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Backing up entire computer hard disk

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