Ah .... okay .. now I get it. In my case, I use an external usb hdd and an external usb cd/dvd for ghosted stuff larger than 4.5gb. Sorry for the misinterpretation of the actual "stupid problem".

Solutions, solutions, solutions .... who has them? Well, we, sometimes, run into the right one. I know that you've asked not to solve your problem but I would like to report my own solution: Norton Ghost. I hate NORTON anything but I've learned to love Norton's Ghost (V.9 that is). Long ago I made a bootable cd disk with all the necessary stuff for booting as an hd (for computers with sata optical media) and, if not F5 pressed, lunch the cd-rom attaching stuff. It worked nicely the first time I tried on the ACER AOA150 and on everything I ever needed. Good luck! PS: I too loved Windows 7 over xp.