[ale] hardware to back up a Dell laptop

[courtneycthomas at bellsouth.net (Courtney Thomas)]

I have an old Dell Latitude laptop which has only a ROM player and want to
be able to backup this machine [18 GB].

What hardware would be the least expensive and reliable ?

Is there an inexpensive ROM burner available from a 3rd party that I could
substitute for the player ?

I looked at Fry's zip drives yesterday but it would cost a good % of the
machine's worth for one that would back up the HD.

Suggestions appreciated,

Courtney