Link below for free backup software for home and non commercial use.
Link To Macrium Reflect
Supports both 32 and 64 bit versions of XP or Vista. When I installed it, it offered me the opportunity to create a bootable disk. I am using the Vista 64 bit version, it offered me to make a Linux Boot Disk which I did. After doing a complete mirror backup to a USB External Hard Drive which took about 20 minutes, I booted off of the recovery boot CD and it worked as it should.
Below is some more info about the software.
Link To More Info
I have used both Norton Ghost and Acronis and am impressed with this software and ease of use! Being an old geezer, that takes some doing!