I little while ago I compiled a few options. Maybe you find something that suits you. The cheapest is to buy a Maxtor One Touch disk - since you need an external disk anyhow and the Maxtor comes with the imaging and backup programs (Maxtor Manager). I myself use Norton Ghost which I bought before I was aware of the Maxtor option. Ghost works well but it needs a little getting used to. Some of the functions you have to scout for in the interface. Lots of people like Acronis - but I never used it yet.
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