Transferring Windows files to HDD NEED HELP

[char1ie]

I have a 7 year old computer that i want to transfer all of its HDD content to an external HDD (All Contents in the HDD like windows folder, system32 folder... basically the heart of the computer). But when ever i try and copy everything to my external hdd it just keeps saying that a file that im trying to transfer is open and running considering its not, how do i avoid all of these errors to make it stop cancelling the transferring of the files. The PC im transferring from is an XP.

 

[C12Friedman]

The preferred method is to use an imaging program to copy the files like one of the programs here http://disk-imaging-software-review.toptenreviews.com/
There are free programs like this one, http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx I haven't used it/them