Partition>image (OS and programs on single partition of C drive))

I have Dell 9150 all Sata and there were doubts whether I could restore all the meticulous images I made (after discovering there was a prob on other forums with this to my dismay).  I was also keeping my files down so I could keep in one image file. Rather than go back and image my old and last image, I decided to try to image my larger setup up to this point,  I just imaged with "span" and "auto" switch-that went fine.  I restored with the "fni" switch and wham. it worked!!.  I set my pagefile to zero hopping that would keep me on just one file with no span but it didn't. 
      I've got Norton 9 now and 2003 on the way, but I can see no reason to use them now-except for possibility of incremental saving of music projects.  The projects  now reside in one file that I can easily just copy to a usb drive once in a while. 
     Next I'll have to look through your forum and see what I have to do to go "usb".  I use an enclosure for this. And I'm a novice totally.
     Well, thanks for this forum, it can get pretty complicated and I don't want to go too far on this.

Thanks again.