Backing up computer..

[The Chad]

I'm busy backing my computer up as I feel the harddrive could go any moment now. I'm copying my whole 250Gb harddrive onto an external portable 500Gb harddrive.
Everything is copying fine but sometimes it says something like "File is in use".

How would I back these things up? Or do I not need to worry about those?

 

[smellsorange]

You could always start in safe mode and see if you could then backup the files. If there are a lot of files in the windows directory that are giving you the in use warning, I don't think I'd worry about them... Generally this means the files are open for programs that you are using...

I usually do the same thing you are doing, backup the whole drive. Then I also use the files and settings transfer wizard in windows to get my desktop settings moved over.