Disk imaging

All,

I have been using Norton Ghost 2002 to make drive images of laptops before
initially placing them in the field.  I do this image after loading all our
software, Acrobat Reader, Office, Antivirus, etc. so if there is a
catastrophic failure in the field I have something to go back to without
starting from square 1.  Note that this is a 1-shot deal per laptop.  I
don't use Ghost for routine backups, just this initial image as a failsafe.
(Knock wood - I've not had to use one yet.)

The latest laptop we purchased (Dell Latitude 410) has an external USB
attached CD-Rom which Ghost 2002 can't handle.  Ghost 9 is supposed to
handle it, but looking at the user reviews on Amazon, there's a bazillion
complaints about not being able to restore, especially to XP.

If you can't restore, there isn't much use to get the product . . .

Any experience with later versions of Ghost?  What else is good at this
function?

Thanks.