creating system back ups

10.5.2 IS FINALLY HERE!!!!
however, Id rather be safe than sorry and create a system back-up before updating.
How do I create a complete system back up WITHOUT using time machine?

I hear superduper is Leopard compatible. There's also the free CarbonCloner or something for Leopard. Make an image using that. Although I'd say Time Machine would be the ideal solution... Just make sure you turn it off before updating Leopard. So in case you don't like something about 10.5.2, you can always do a clean install using Time Machine.

Good point about turning Time Machine off, goobimama!
You can also use plain old Disk Utility, Restore, pick your Source and Destination drives.

Recommend SuperDuper. Try it for free and if happy pay the registration fee. The registered version is much, much faster and allows a Smart Backup which checks which files only need changing. Reduces time of backup from hours to about 25 minutes for X.5.2 update.