Full system backup before partition

[OlyPerson]

Ok, so I am planning on doing a full system backup prior to partitioning my hard drive to dual boot Ubuntu and XP. I want to make sure that I don't destroy XP so I want to back it all up onto my external HD. How do I go about doing this? And also, suppose I do mess up during the operation and wipe XP, is the backup enough to bring the computer from the dead?
Thanks in advance, I just have to be really careful doing this or else my parents will be very mad at me.

 

[Geoff]

What are you using to partition it? If you are using a software based app such as Norton Partition Magic, then you don't need to back it up as it leaves the OS intact.

 

[OlyPerson]

I want to us the Ubuntu built partitoner (GParted I think it's called. I will do this with the live CD of Ubuntu.
But that isn't the important part, I need to back it all up.
Also, I have no idea where my XP installation disk is, I don't think that it cam with the computer and I can't use the ntbackup.exe method because of this.

EDIT: I think that I just found the CD.