1) downloading from iPhoto is as easy as selecting the photos you want and then dragging them to your desktop, folder, or ThumbDrive. Make sure the ThumbDrive is formatted either FAT32 or Mac OS Journalled. If it is formatted NTFS (as it might be if it had been used on a Windows machine) you won't be able to write or copy to it.
2) easiest way to back up is attach an external hard drive and use Time Machine.
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