backing up - finding a solution

Ok I am aware of the need toback up my Mac, but I can't afford an external hard drive. I do however have a little windows netbook kicking about that I never use. It runs windows XP.
Would it be possible to use the net book like an external HD and if so how? I think the answer will be no, but trying to find a (cheep) way of backing up my Mac.
Sorry for the stupid question

the answer is yes
just connect the computers to the same network (or use a crossed ethernet cable to connect them directly), make some folders shared (in the get info panel or properties on windows) and connect from one computer to the other

the Mac should be able to see the second computer from Finder, it will show up in the left panel under Devices .. if it doesn't you can connect directly to the IP address, I'm not sure if I need to elaborate how to setup a network here though ...

once networked you can just copy your data manually

another way would be to use a firewire cable, assuming the netbook actually has firewire, and connect the mac in something called "target disk mode"

wow! I understand *most*of that. I use mobile broadband ( Yeah I know but can't have land line) so how would I connect them to the same network?

I'm not sure what you mean exactly by mobile broadband, is that one of those devices you plug straight into your computer or do you have something like a wifi access point?

and what kind of a Mac do you have? a MacBook? an iMac? does it have a wifi card?

yeah a dongle that goes in my UBB port. It uses the mobile reception

question still stands, does your Mac have wifi?

1. ok assuming it does ... there is a wifi icon in the top right corner, right click it and select Create Network (Mac side)
2. whatever name will do and you can add a password (Mac side)
3. pick a folder, go to Get Info and check the Shared box (Mac side)
4. start up your netbook and connect to this wifi you've just set up, it can take a few minutes to connect (Windows side)
5. next you need to figure out the ip address of either machine .. I would use ifconfig/ipcinfig in the terminal, but you can go to network preferences and in the Airport section you will see a message, something like "Airport is connected and has the ip of: 169.254.whatever.whatever (Mac side) ... but I rly have no idea how to click your way to get the ip on a windows machine
6. open up a windows explorer and in type the following: (Windows side)
\\the_ip_of_your_mac\shared_folder_name

and that will do it, you will just get prompted with a window asking for the user and password

now I have Snow Leopard and know this works, but if you have an older system, I can't give you accurate instructions, but it will be something along these lines

and of course there are more ways of going about this, but hopefully you get the idea

sorry yes it is wifi enabled