Hope this helps. Here's how my rigs are setup.
I have a 10GB FAT32 partition in every rig I build. Ghost has to be on a FAT32 partition, b/c you boot into DOS (Win98 boot disk) and DOS doesn't read NTFS.
Anyway, on the partition, I put the GHOST.EXE file. It's only 1004KB.

I boot with a Win98 boot floppy (or some other floppy that has DOS on it.
I then type C:Ghost. Ghost executes and I go about doing whatever I need to.
Ghost is the most useful program I've ever seen. You take the time to do an OS load properly. I.E. load up ALL the security patches, fixes, etc. Drivers, etc. After 100x reboots, you're done. Three hours at least, right? Right.
Immediately after you get the OS "finished" you Ghost it to that partition you have (or network location, or wherever).
Now, if down the road your OS gets hosed for whatever reason, you can Ghost back that FRESH, squeaky-clean OS in about 10 minutes or so!!! What a great program.