The image probably took that long because of the damage the infection did, but also could have been dependent upon how much you have on your machine.
Being able to restore from an ext. image is always a good fall back and is essential as a counter to Ransomware or other infections.
Because there are free and paid for programs I don't think it would be practical trying to bundle them together.
One disk I would advise creating though, is a Kaspersky Recue Disk.
https://support.kaspersky.co.uk/4162This disk pulled me out of the mire once when using a restore point hung on a black screen and after I power shut down, that was the only thing it would boot up with.
It took about 9 hours to scan my system and then invoked a chkdsk which got me up and running again.
It's worth going into the BIOS and changing the Boot order so that it checks the DVD and USB drives before the SSD/HDD.
I've never heard of a MSDart disk.
I normally use an install or System Repair disk.
You can create a Win 8.1 install disk from
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows8When you boot up with an install disk, you proceed as for a clean install but click on Repair your computer on the Install screen and from there you can navigate to the advanced boot options.