Backup routine is simple if you have enough disk space - copy the entire folder to a backup. In fact for 2010 and 12 I've found I can copy the TS12 or TS2010 folder to multiple locations, different hard disks, and even a different computer - create a shortcut to the trainz.exe in that folder and it works fine. Got a LAN cable to connect your laptop you might just try copying the 2009 folder from the desktop, see if that works.
For content creation testing I keep one each TS2010 and TS12 folder "clean" by setting content mangler filter to location = local and built in = false, select all delete all. When I import a CDP into one of those copies I can instantly spot what hasn't been uploaded yet by the "Unknown KUID" in the dependencies list.
