That's more a comment rather than a question but
I bet any responses would help me understand
things better and show me the Linux way ...

Imagine your Kernel (the whole system) collapses
and you want to use your backups to restore it.
Having used Acronis one can always boot with the
Acronis-live-cd and take the hd image let's say from
an external USB hd to restore it in the relevant
partition in the computer. On the other hand, if the
backup was done with KDar can one use this program
outside the OS environment for restoring the latter?
Maybe a llve-cd of a recent SUSE would do the trick?

I am now running KDar for the first time and it looks
pretty slow (considering that it is not doing any high
compression - it has moved 3G in 45min through my usb).

In the end, what is the efficient, safe and easy way
for restoring an OS?

Did I say that I am amassed by SUSE 10.1.b9 ?

I havent used the tool below, but it should do the trick for you.
"partimage"

if you want a windows tool, then probably Norton ghost is excellent restoring tool.

Yap! I checked that, thank you.
Looks good - hope it is easy to use
cause with Acronis (and I guess with Norton too)
you cannot read the Linux partitions while in Windows.
You have to boot with the CD to do a usual back up image
(I have not tried that myself).
Best

Hope that this tool with GUI would be even better. Check it out
http://part-gui.sourceforge.net/

probably Google search on part gui should reveal you more information.