Export and Import of Images

Is there any way to export pages with attached images from a Wp installation (e.g. test site or backup site), and import these into another Wp installation (e.g. public hosted site), other than by manually importing the images and manually editing every page to repair the image attachments? 100’s of forum posts and much testing of different plugins suggests it’s impossible. I would be very grateful to see an authorative statement on this issue included in the WordPress documentation. NB have tried Importer version 0.5 plugin without success – the Media library remains empty.