I use a program called Acronis (it's available on the web) in conjunction with an external HDD.

Several options are available - I backup up my system (no music or photo files on the C: drive) so that if the C: drive crashes, it will take more time to buy a new drive than to re-install the OS and my software on the new drive.

For music and photo files, the same can be done, but I've been using the drag and drop (copy/paste) method, putting the backups on the external drive into folder with the same organization as the originals.

Glenn