That was a beautiful story.

Nothing can stop the power of the mighty backup. May I recommend the following procedures when making the backup...
1) Do not use Windows Vista crappy mode or whatever they call it when you make backups, use 'Mastered Mode' which is readable on older OS's like MSDOS.
2) Instead of using a system restore or other such software, burn only the files you wish to keep. There is no need to backup your entire drive.