Newbie:Ex Hd backup organisation

Trust this is the correct forum for topic.

*******
I have ex. hd. [160g] for backup and eventually store artwork &
photos. Imac G4 running 10.2.8 hope to move to Panther in near future.
Questions
1 To partition or not
2 What to backup
a. complete HD contents [14 gb at present]
b. Home folder + ?
c. System + ? [ where is op system located]
d. Suggestions

I thank the knowledgeable in advance.

Experience is something you get just after you really need it

At that size, there is no need to partition. I recommend backing up everything, making a disk image in other words. I think it may well be best to back up before the Panther upgrade and after. Some files (especially system files) may not function the same after the upgrade obviously.