Vista - How to test Disaster Recovery?

I want to test the Disaster Recovery part of Genie Backup Manager. I think my question is related to the OS, rather than GBM, which is why I have posted on this forum.

For me, the most time-consuming part of any disaster recovery is the re-installation of all the programs. My static text data, music, images, etc, is all backed up offline, and is never a problem. (Sometimes the data is unharmed.) The OS itself does not take long, because I have a slipstreamed DVD. But the programs take several days to re-install.

GBM claims to "recover" all programs, or any selected program, so here is my test plan to recover a single program:

1) Copy the selected program to a new temporary folder in Program Files. Rename this new folder to a temporary name.

2) Uninstall the original program.

3) Delete any entries in "Documents and Settings" (or "AppData" in Vista) for that program.

4) Use CCleaner and Easy Cleaner to ensure that there are no orphan entries in the registry.

5) Rename the copy of the program in Program Files back to its original name.

6) Attempt to run the EXE for the program to prove that it cannot run without entries in the registry and Documents & Settings.

7) When it does not run (if it runs, then I've probably selected the wrong program), then delete the folder.

8) Again use CCleaner and Easy Cleaner in case the program managed to create any registry entries before failing.

9) Again delete any entries in "Documents and Settings" that might have been created for the program .

10) "Recover" the program from its GBM backup location.

11) Run the program and beat it to death to ensure that it is actually running correctly.

BTW: I was planning to use Microsoft Office as the test program, but if anyone can suggest a smaller program (Notepad?) it would take less time for the test. It must be a program (I think) that creates registry entries, and entries in Docs&Settings. .

Any malicious software that hoses your system may leave some nasties on the HD. So I would make the assumption that recovery would involve formatting the drive. The only way to know for sure is to format the drive, then lay the system back on and see if it works. When I tried this I had a system that I just reinstalled. I installed about a dozen small programs I've used for a long time so I could tell if they acted weird. I did the backup. Deleted the C: partition. Booted the Restore CD and loaded the whole backup on.

You probably don't want to do that on a running system unless it's the "guinea pig machine" though. Anything short of duplicating actual conditions and you'll never really know until the disaster happens. Doesn't inspire confidence going in hoping though.