I've done several restores of my Ultimate from backup. Not once did it allow me to restore from USB. My guess is that this feature works on hard-wired HD's only. If you can load an OS to copy the files to ANOTHER hard disk (non-C
, then give that a go.
I've tried searching on the web for recovering a backup from USB. Nothing came up.
If you want to spend a few bucks, Acronis True Image works from and to USB drives. It also has many more features than Vista's built-in backup. Then again, why spend more money when you already spent so much on Vista Ultimate.
Hey, I have a lappy right here with Vista Ultime. I'll try to backup and restore from a USB drive. I'll post results later.