"Ghosting/Imaging" ENTIRE hard drive X40

[KenFodder]

I have read from numerous posts regarding the backing up on the hdd. They always have something missing.

Eg:
Whether the HPA/PDA will be included or not;
Offer advice but not tested that the system will boot after restoration (the blinking cursor syndrome)

Has anybody managed to back up the ENTIRE hdd INCLUDING the HPA/PDA - all partitions, as an image file of some form AND has managed to restore that image, after completely deleting the HPA/PDA with PM8 and clearing the MBR manually using FDISK?? (Image stored on an external hdd on USB)

All I want is to know whether it is POSSIBLE to image the WHOLE drive and restore it if I mess up windows big time.

The reason why I want to do this is if my hdd fails I can get a new disk and restore it EXACTLY the way it was and not go through the bollocks of reinstalling windows using recovery CDs.

[KenFodder]

Moderator could you delete this duplicate post since you moved it across.

Thanks