Still won't work.
a) xcopy is not available at the recovery console.
b) the recovery console IS windows, just without most of the services loaded (including the GUI). There are still services running, and they will have lockdowns on whatever files or folders they depend on.
c) the SAM database will be locked, along with other security related files
d) the copied drive would not be bootable as copy doesn't copy the MBR
I fail to see the problem with using Ghost (or equivilant if you can find it). So it takes 2 hours to download? You can do that while you're asleep, and last time I used it it took about an hour to clone a 40Gb drive onto a 60Gb one. After that was done all I had to do was remove the 40Gb drive and move the 60Gb one onto primary master and boot - that's it; no additional config or setup, and everything exactly how it was.
Compare that to reinstalling windows and every application, rebuilding all your settings and getting everything back how you like it. That's more like 12+ hours of work - 12 hours of sitting in front of the computer doing tedious tasks like rebooting after ever second install and not being able to leave it for 5 minutes without yet another dialog box popping up asking for CD 2 or something.
Which would you choose?
2 hours in bed + 1 hour watching TV while the drive gets cloned, or 12 hours soaking up the ions in front of the monitor?
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm...