Question on backup and bootable cd for win xp

hi
i have a dell inspiron laptop running win xp pro sp2
lately ive had a few crashes altho its working fine gain at the moment.But, just in case, i want to back up my data and create one of those bootable disks (i never got the win xp pro cd off dell-apparently they dont give them anymore..)
Anyway ive searched the net but the only articles i find to create bootable cd are for floppy disks..i only have a cd/rw drive on my laptop.Is it possible to create a cd that i can use to restore windows if it completely crashes?

Also im trying to use the backup tool that comes with windows xp but again its not allowing me to back up anything to cd

Hope ive made sense with what ive asked here, because im not an expert when it comes to this type of thing,im learning as i go and im adept enough to follow technical instructions

Thanks

 

look through one of existing posts..
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?p=726916#post726916

 

You can ofton buy this Dell roperating system restore cd on Ebay for about $10