PC Laptop to Linux backup

What is the easiest way?

[stuntdubl]

I am relatively inexperienced in Linux, but I have setup a few installations.

I have an older computer that I just bought a new hard-drive for (since the old one puked), and I am wanting to use it to store backup from my laptop.

If I set up an installation of redhat linux on the old pc, what would be the easiest way to backup the data from my laptop on a regular basis?

Is there a better way to do this without linux?

I've been putting this off, but I don't want to lose a weeks worth of work if I have a hard-drive failure or such.

Thanks in advance.

[marcs]

rsync works well to backup one machine on another. You may want to exclude some directories (like /proc) and make sure the destination machine has enough free disk space.