Not really...
Backups and cloning aren't (usually) the same thing, though most modern backup software can do both.
Backups are something that you will want to do on a daily basis, and will typically contain your working data (documents, photos, music etc) plus maybe other things on your machine which change often such as the Windows registry. Then, if you accidentally overwrite a document or delete a folder, it's a simple matter just to restore that from last night's backup.
Cloning, on the other hand, makes an exact copy of every byte of data on your hard drive onto an external drive. This is at such a low level (relatively speaking) that it can't be done from the boot drive. Therefore, the cloning software will typically have the ability to create boot media (usually a CD these days). If your hard drive fries, you replace it with a new one, boot from the CD, and restore the cloned image. Then you restore the most recent backup, and you're up and running.
I create a clone of my various machines' hard drives typically only when something major changes, such as a lot of Windows updates or a new service pack.