Restoring Vista OS via Windows XP

My system has crashed and I have reformatted and reinstalled Windows XP (upgrades to Vista do not allow you to re-install from Vista, i.e. you have to go back to XP then install the upgrade).

I have created a Vista backup in 2009 and 2010. Can I short circuit the lengthy process by booting from the 2010 CD and restoring the Vista backup? OR Do I need to do the Vista upgrade before restoring my system?

Separately, I can see my SCSI drives during boot up but when I launch True Image 2010 from the CD, I get some error messages (all of text does not display on screen) before the menu screen pops up. It appears as if some of the drives are not recognized. When I try to recover, I can find the backup but cannot restore it back to my C drive. Have searched and found some potential fixes so have my fingers crossed. The CDs and backups have been used before without any problems. So can someone tell me if this is a recurring problem with Acronis or could it be something else. Would appreciate any advice on the success of some of these "fixes" as well?

Thanks in advance for any and all help ...