Apparently peter doesn't understand that a disk image includes all disk
metadata, such as the Master Boot Record and the Master File Table.
Thus, the image is bootable. No additional boot CD is needed.

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Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

peter wrote:
What Leonard failed to mention was that an image of your HD does you no
good if you have no means to restore the image...If XP is so corrupted
the system wont
start!!
Most of the programs that Leonard mentioned let you create a bootable
rescue CD/DVD with which you would boot the machine.
I know Acronis does I am not sure about the rest as I have never used them
but you can google them to see if they have that capability
peter