Will someone please help this old man with computer backup problems?

I have read hundreds of answers and scores of reviews as well as countless publishers’ descriptions. I am at a loss; I seem to be going in circles. Can anyone of you software gurus help me.

I was burnt using the Vista Backup and Restore software. I did a complete backup and Recovery but when I tried to reload my data the disks were unreadable. I managed to finely get them copied but it did no good. In short I lost so much irreplaceable data that I am now very gun shy.

I have plenty of computer:

Duo Core

3 GB of Memory

2 HDs; a TB and a 400 GB. The TB is my unpartitioned C:\ drive. The 400 GB has the D:\ partition, where I want the Image/Clone of the C:\ drive as well as a 10 GB E:\ partition for Vista Recovery files that I want to leave unmolested.

USB 2.0 ports where I plan to dock and designate, with a fixed drive letter, one fairly large flash drive. Either 32 GB or 64 GB as the need dictates.

I am looking for a piece of backup software that will do the following:

1. First, above all else; IT MUST WORK!!!

2. It must allow me to create a bootable recovery DVD/s.

3. It must be able to make an exact copy of my C: drive on my D: drive nightly, while unattended. When the process is complete this drive must be bootable with little or no reconfiguration. This copying, cloning or updating process must be done in conjunction with other scheduled events; updates, disc defrag etc.

4. It must sense and backup to a flash drive any data the moment it is created/stored. That would include documents, spreadsheets, music, photos, graphics and any other newly created data. This process must take place in the background without disturbing operator. Minor slowing is acceptable.

5. It must allow a manual full backup to RW DVDs on the demand of the operator.

6. There must be no compression or proprietary formats, strictly readable formatting is all I am willing to deal with.

While cost is always a factor I would gladly pay up to $100 for the prefect program. Of course, I would consider a less expensive piece of commercial, shareware or even freeware.

Please any help is appreciated.