I use Acronis True Image as a ghost alternative using a boot disc. If you use it in Windows, it's supposed to do exactly what you describe. As I understand it, the Snap Restore feature can automatically create images of your drive in the background. When you need to restore an image, it will restore the system files first so you can actually use the machine as it's restoring the rest of the drive.

Note that they also have a server version that is incredibly expensive.