[TriLUG] Reverse Samba?

[MG]

Not a request for dancing instruction  :)  but it still may be too basic 
a question for this group:


I'm trying to use my Debian kernel 2.6 computers to back up some very 
large Windows XP directories and want to use Gzip and  tar to do this.  
Linux being the lean mean system it is, those boxen have small hard 
drives. Me being the cash-strapped cheapskate I am, I don't want to pay 
for Linux-like utilities for M$ machines,  


Dual-booting is the obvious answer, but not until those files are backed 
up.  Knoppix doesn't seem able to see the windows files and has problems 
recognizing the CD drive in any case, so I don't think I can use it to 
transfer the files to CD.  And Debian networking recognizes the Windows 
machine, but can't access it, even though I'm pretty sure I've marked 
the drives as shareable.  I set up Samba, and can transfer files to the 
relatively small share I've allocated on the Debian machine and do 
Windows and Linux things to them there, but can't get the reverse thing 
going - having Linux be able to to do Linux things on the Windows laptop.


Is there something obvious I'm missing here with Samba, or did I just 
build a watch and still can't read the time?  Thanks in advance for any 
help, advice, answers, etc.


MG