For what its worth, here is some data for comparison:
Backed up C:\ (used space: 24.8GB) to external USB drive.
Split archive into 650MB files.
Password protected, no encryption.
Default (program recommended) compression, priority, etc.
Ghost 12 took 14 minutes, 18.2GB backup size.
TrueImage Home 2009 took 19 minutes, 17.3GB backup size.