Hi Scott, long time no "e"

For partial backups of important files, I agree with you that the e-mail files are most important. The location of these files has become more of a mystery over the years but there is a way to get Outlook to tell you exactly where it's storing your messages:

Go to Tools>Options>Maintenance and then click on "Store Folder". Highlight the entire path and then CTL+C to copy it. Now paste this into Internet Explorer (CTL+V), press ENTER and it will take you directly to the folder that contains all your stuff. Now you can copy every file you see to a safe place.

Other important areas to back up are your "My Documents" folder and your main download directory. As a rule of thumb, it's a good idea to create a folder called "Downloads" so that anything you download from the internet gets stored there. Whenever you get that little "Save or Open" dialog from a web page, you can choose "Save" and then point it to your "Downloads" directory. This way you always know where to find stuff after a download and you just have one folder to backup in the future. It's also a good idea to back up you browser's bookmarks (in Windows they're in your "Favorites" folder).

For more serious backups (to restore the entire system in case of a total disater), I recommend Norton Ghost.

Chris