As with most of you, I have tried many different backup solutions. I have now settled on Acronis TrueImage (even though it is not a free app) and the latest version 11 is brill. It can do complete system Images, snapshots, continuous backups as well as create a boot partition to which backups or images can be made.
Also, the Seagate BlackArmor NAS 2TB or 4TB appliance includes a 5 user oem licence of TrueImage. It's definitely worth it.
Pips Sandhu