IMHO, the easiest way to back up a Windows drive now-a-days is to boot from CD into a Linux distribution (e.g. Knoppix), mount another machine on the network via Samba (using Windows file sharing on the other computer if it is a Windows machine), then copy the whole damn disk with the command
bzip2 </dev/hda >backup.bz2
(or possibly bzip2 </dev/sda >backup.bz2)
Which will give you a sector by sector image of the disk, compressed, so that it won't take up quite so much space.
When you need to restore it, you would just issue the command
bunzip2 <backup.bz2 >/dev/hda
and it is done.
In any case, you really cannot fully back up a Windows disk under Windows, due to the way Windows handles file sharing. No matter what you will be booting from some other media.
The other solution is to get a USB to IDE adapter such as
this, remove the disk from the machine, and copy it that way.
Personally, I'd suggest you just buy another 2.5 inch disk for your laptop, and install XP to that, and keep the existing drive as a backup.
This is my opinion, not Aeroflex's.
I WILL NOT give you proprietary information. I make too much money to jeopardize my job.
I AM NOT the Service department: You want official info, manuals, service info, parts, calibration, etc., contact Aeroflex directly, please.