T60p w/ RNR 4.0 and Vista can't boot external USB backup

[yobyot]

I made a full backup onto a USB drive. Then I made it bootable using RNR 4.0's create rescue media app.

I put a bare drive in the laptop and tried (repeatedly) to boot the USB drive, but can't (NTLDR missing).

Then I booted the RNR 4.0-created DVD's I'd made, it chugged for about an hour and then it couldn't boot whatever it had done to the drive.

Has anyone got the secret of using RNR 4.0 with Vista?

I am testing disaster scenarios. It's a [censored] good thing I haven't had a disaster because as far as I can tell, these backups cannot be used for disaster recovery.