use of/backing up to an external drive

i have just bought an external drive for my mac mini
q1 what is the best program to back data to the device , without having a .mac account
q2 is it possible to run the data off my mac from the external drive rather than the mac itself as the external drive is 7200rpm, and the mac is only 4800rpm, and is there a need i.e speed or complications

regards and thanks

Here are some links which may help you doing the backup.

novicew said:

Here are some links which may help you doing the backup.

Click to expand...

thanks very much, do you know anything about if it will be faster or better runing from an external usb drive, regards

daveparki said:

thanks very much, do you know anything about if it will be faster or better runing from an external usb drive, regards

Click to expand...

USB has lower Data transfer speed than FireWire or transfer within your HD.
Hi-Speed USB mode is capable of a much faster 480Mbits/second

Check for more.

novicew said:

USB has lower Data transfer speed than FireWire or transfer within your HD.
Hi-Speed USB mode is capable of a much faster 480Mbits/second

Check for more.

Click to expand...

thanks for the help, regards