Back up files

I am new to mac. (Have os x lion> With my pc i always backed up my files with an external hard drive. Can I still do this with mac? I get confused on how to back up my microsoft office for word and excel files. I would really appreciate help with this. Thanks so much.

Reggie

Time Machine is a pre-installed application that will automatically backup your entire internal hard drive to an external hard drive. Since you already have Time Machine, why not use it? Purchase an external hard drive at least the same size as the drive in your Mac, attach it and Time Machine should open and ask if you wish to use it for backup. Respond OK. You'll then get a warning that it will format the drive (Time Machine only works with a drive formatted to the Mac OS Extended Journaled file system). Click on the link below for more info.

Mac 101: Time Machine