Burning Hard Disk Image

I recently reformatted my hard drive so I could clear it of all the crap that has been put on it from over 6 years of service. I just finished installing all of the securitiy updates and I want to create a image of the drive. I'm not really familiar what that is, but what I'm looking for would be a sort of recovery disk where I could put it in and it would return my system to what it is now (nothing on it but xp, and windows updates). Is this possible?, and how would I go about doing this? I have a burning drive but don't have any burning software, and I'm not willing to buy anything as I'm short on cash. Any input would help.

Thanks,
John

 

I need help as soon as possible because I need to get my regular programs back on, but I can't do this until I have the image file.

 

Before you can even start you need some software to be able to burn a CD. So make that your number one priority.

 

I've got the software, just need help with what to do.

 

I use Acronis TrueImage http://majorgeeks.com/Acronis_True_Image_d2236.html for backing up my hard drive. Nero 6 burning software (if you have it) also has a drive backup feature, though I've never tried it. Norton Ghost is also another to consider, I have Ghost 2003 on my kids computer. There are also some free drive backup programs in the MajorGeeks backup section http://majorgeeks.com/downloads3.html that you could try out since you haven't got anything besides the OS, so you don't have to worry about losing vital data.