How can I use Linux to transfer a disk image from an external HD to an internal HD?

Factual Questions
1

I recently had to mail in my Compaq laptop for service. The motherboard-integrated wireless failed and they will likely be replacing the motherboard. I suspect they will have re-imaged my drive before returning it. Before I mailed it off, I was smart enough to use DiskImage XML to create an .iso image of my Vista hard drive on an external USB back-up hard drive. I wasn’t smart enough to think of what I was going to do with that disk image once I got it back.

Here’s what I am now envisioning: use some small Linux distribution on a USB or a live CD to transfer my disk-image back onto my laptop’s internal hard drive. So, I think I just need Linux to do some drive formatting, some image file reading, and some image file expansion onto the laptop’s hard-disk. Can someone recommend how to go about doing this?

Thanks,
threemae

2

You can use a bootable Bart PE disk to restore DriveImage XML files with the appropriate plugin.

Linux can definitely do this, but I’ve never heard of DriveImage XML and even if their format is open it wouldn’t mean there is software to deal with it. I’m also concerned that you mentioned “.iso” file. A hard drive image should not normally be an “.iso” file.