win2000 backup

[sentofuno]

two questions about backing up:

i reinstalled windows on my 160GB HDD, which was partitioned for 20GB for my C: OS partition and 140GB for data. not being sure if the 137GB limit for win2000 would mean any risk to my files i copied everything to another HDD first (thank heaven). first off i couldn't even access the D: partition until i updated to SP4 etc and then i recovered all the files automatically with my next boot. but a lot of files are now dead, they're still there but for example several jpgs are now not recognised by picture viewer.

of course everything on the other backup HDD is fine. but they lie in so many subfolders it'll be a pain to manually copy/paste everything over and overwrite the bad files. so i was thinking about using the backup program instead (to save time and just to learn more about windows in general). but there are various options like differential and incremental i'm not sure which to choose. or if to use it at all. will differential only save changed files? i presume the fact that the original bad and the backup good files will not be recognised as 'different' in this case? and will incremental just add new files etc?

the other problem is i have new files in both HDD's. i want one partition/folder/HDD or whatever with good versions of the identical files and all the new files from both HDD's in one, using backup. is this possible and how should i do it?



also i noticed 'system state' as an option to back up. is this like the system restore in ME/XP? this would be useful for my win2000 machine, if this means i can reinstall windows from scratch, install minimal updates, apps and drivers and then save that fresh install to then restore from instead of reinstalling.

or if thats not what system state backup is for does disk imaging work like that? i've heard network admins install OS's onto new PCs by simply copying a drive image from a server..

[query]

Disk imaging is the only quick-restore method for Windows.  

The system state refers to a backup of the registry and several other critical files.  

Restoring from a backup is not easy - the only practical way to back up to tape or another drive is to back up your data only - unless you use a backup utility with a disaster-recovery option that allows you to restore without first reloading Windows, you'll have to reload and patch Windows, and then restore your files.