Can a partition program do this?

[stage rat]

I have a laptop with a 60 GB hard drive. I am going to buy an external drive very soon, but the size of it depends on whether I will be able to do everything that I want. I want to:

1. Copy all info from my computer onto this external drive, as a backup. Update it regularly. I have 5 partitions on my current hard drive (drives c-f)

2. Use the external drive to store photos and music that I can't fit on my current hard drive.

A friend said he thinks this can't be done, that by partitioning the new drive to match the old drive, the additional memory on the new, bigger drive will be unavailable. Clearly I don't really understand this. But I do know that if I can't do both things with one drive, I'll buy a smaller external hard drive. Can you please advise me on whether I can both back up my hard drive and store additional data, with which program, and how I do it? I know very, very little about computer hardware and software, so please phrase things accordingly!

Also, is there anything about my computer that will limit the size or function of this external drive? I'm running Windows XP, I have a Pentium III 800 MHz processor, I plan to use my firewire A port, and I can find any other info if you ask.


Thanks!