I have about 3000 songs on my Ipod. I got a new computer and noticed that even though I have been using Itunes, not all my Ipod songs (that are actually on the Ipod) are included in the Itunes folder on the new computer. It seems like only the songs I have installed since getting the new computer are there. What I want to do is to backup my complete library to a portable external hard drive (Western Digital Passport) that I bought for that reason. That way if my computer or Ipod screws up, I have a backup of all my songs. How can I go about doing this? I am afraid to sync my Ipod as I am afraid it will erase all my songs that are on the Ipod and then replace them with the small number that is in the current Itunes library. After I copied all the tunes to my Ipod initially, I got rid of most of the 500+ cd's I had. So I cannot afford to lose this music. Thanks in advance for your help.

I forgot to ask: is there any software programs that you can recommend that will do what I am trying to accomplish? Thanks.