Backing up Macbook Pro..When the screen is shot.

Ok I have a late 2007 Macbook Pro that I currently have Apple Care on it until July 2010. Now my problem is my entire screen is dead. The Apple logo on the back isn't lighting up, the screen is black, not even the DVI port works. Only the keyboard and sound works as though it is still on. I went to a Genius Bar and they told me they would have to send it in to get a new logic board and most likely my HDD would have to be replaced and I would lose most of my data cause the last time I backed up was about 6 months ago and that was on DVD's. The genius said I could back it up with an external HDD and he would show me how there, but I want to do it before I go in again on Wednesday, and I was wondering if anyone knew how to do it another way like using a key stroke or something like that, cause as I said before I can't see anything. Any help would be appriceated. Thankyou.

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Do you have access to another Mac? If so, you could access your drive using Firewire Target Disk Mode:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
You would also need an external drive, preferably a Firewire one, as large as or larger than your internal drive. Once you have your internal drive and the external drive mounted on the host computer, you could clone your internal drive onto the external, making an exact copy of it using a cloning utility such as Super Duper or Carbon Copy Cloner.
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
I would recommend making a bootable clone of your hard drive over using DVD's for backup. Over time, DVD's can turn into little gold frisbees unless you get the archival grade. A bootable clone is useful because if your internal drive dies, you can boot from the external and keep on computing. Also, if you get a new hard drive, you can clone back from the external and be back where you were when you sent it off.
Good luck!

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