Image Copy/File backup Strategy Question

Hi everyone,

First of all, thanks to everyone with helping me find some image copy software.

Right now I am evaluation Image for Dos (Bootitng) and so far it looks good. It is slow, but I do not mind. I am simply looking for a very reliable image copy/restore process that will get me back online in case of system corruption or virus infestation. (Both have happened to me over the last year).

What I would like to do now is develop a procedure to backup my common data files. Does it make sense to backup these files to the same external hard drive that I am using to store my image copy? What I am concerned about is that the file backup may, at some future time, spread a virus to my external hard drive, thereby contaminating my good image copy. I could do file backups to a CD. This would keep the more frequent file backups seperate from the clean image copy. Any comments would be appreciated.

Rich