Creating a Backup Partition

Ptricky

I'll try to keep this as succinct as possible:

After months of sluggish computing I decided it was time to do a clean install of Vista along with some other maintenance to get my machine back to some semblance of it's former glory. As I don't have the actually Vista DVD I was forced to reinstall from the partition that came on my machine when I purchased it (a Sony Vaio VGN-FZ485U).

I have returned it to the factory settings, removed *ALL* the bloatware (something I neglected to do the first time I set it up) and have it running exactly as it always should have. Now, before I reinstall the apllications I need for work and, of course, the necessary games, I want to create a backup of the computer as it is now (fresh and bloatware free with all vista updates/service packs to date).

I am in the process of creating a backup using the tools bundled with windows (it is, as we speak, being backed up to my external hard-drive) but I am wondering if there is a way I can store this backup in a partition on the internal hard-drive in the same way that the OEM partition is stored. Additionally, if I can do this, is there a way to delete the existing one so that should I ever have to reinstall my OS again I can be reinstalling the squeeky clean version and not the *Ultrabloated-lookslikethegluttonfromthemovie7* Sony version?

TLDR: Is it possible to create a complete restore on a hard-drive partition that will serve as a replacement for the Vista install package that came partitioned on my laptop?

Any advice from my more technically literate peers would be greatly appreciated!