I have been using ghost for several years and find it quite satisfactory. Not perfect, mind you, but can you name any perfect software?
Ghost originally did only true cloning, making a bit-by-bit copy of a disk as Tatttenbach described. This means that it copied all totally empty regions on the disk, as well as the useful data. You can still force Ghost to do that, now called sector copy mode, if you run it from the command line and set the switch ?ia. However, that is no longer its normal mode of operation; since at least 2002, Ghost normally creates an image file rather than a true drive clone (though Symantec still calls these images ?clones?). I have not used PQ Drive Image or Acronis True Image, but I suspect the same is true for them also.
In imaging mode, only the useful data are copied into an image file. This file can then be used to recreate the functionality of the original, but it will not be an identical clone ? mainly because any empty sectors between files on the original will be eliminated on the restored one. Also, imaging can be on a partition-by-partition basis, rather than on a total disk basis. You can do a full-disk image if you wish, and as you must if your disk is not partitioned; it will smaller, perhaps much smaller, than a sector copy clone.
Another feature of Ghost images, one that many do not seem aware of, is that with Ghost Explorer, you can retrieve selected files from the image. You do not always need to restore the entire partition.
As an illustration of Ghost usage, we have 10 systems, and all of the disks are partitioned. We Ghost the system partition of Machine A to an image in a partition in Machine B, then Ghost its system partition to an image in a partition in Machine C, and so on, finally Ghosting Machine J to machine A. We thus have a fairly simple, but robust backup system.
One advantage of partitioning your drive, and putting the OS and apps in one partition and all data in another, is the reduced size of the images and the time required. The System partition generally needs to be backed up only when significant changes are made. The data should be backed up much more frequently. But by backing up only the data partition, by Ghost or other method, fewer CDs will be needed and it will go much faster.
As you apparently have only one machine, you must save your images to CD or DVD disks. An advantage of Ghost over Lees? copying is that Ghost has two levels of compression. You will need about 70% as many CDs for a backup.
BTW, PQ Drive Image is no longer available since Symantec purchased it. The latest Ghost, Version 9, is an amalgam of Ghost and Drive Image ? supposedly taking the best of each. One disadvantage of version 9 is that it will run only on XP systems. Those who have both XP and 98/ME, as I have, or only 98/ME as you seem to, will need Ghost 2003. This latter is included in the Ghost 9 package.
Hope this provides some info on Ghost options.