Macbook Pro HDD corrupt - How to backup & restore both OSX and Windows XP (Bootcamp)

Question

My Macbook's harddrive is corrupt, and OSX no longer boots, but Windows does through Bootcamp. What is the best way for me to backup and restore my data?

1. How do I backup Windows XP? (Can I backup and restore to a different sized partition?)
2. Should I try to backup the OSX partition from Windows (what tool should I use), or should I just use my TimeMachine backup (a little out of date)?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Answer 1

You can start up from your Mac OS X install DVD - put it in the drive, then restart with the 'c' key held down. Once you're started up on it, you can access Disk Utility from one of the menus and use it to make disk images of your Windows and Mac OS X partitions (save them to a USB drive), though the image of the latter may well fail if it's corrupt. You can also attempt to repair your Mac OS X partition with the disk first aid bit of Disk Utility or attempt to re-install Mac OS X with or without formatting your Mac OS X partition or the entire disk, though make sure you've exhausted all back up attempts before doing so.