Share via

Not enough space to create a system image

Anonymous
2013-04-22T18:12:26+00:00

I am attempting to create a system image of the hard drive on my Surface Pro (which obviously has Windows 8 Pro on it). When I run the Create a system image utility, I get an error that says I do not have enough space. The external hard drive that I am trying to save the image on has 370 GB free space, and the drive on the Surface Pro says 42.5 GB Used, 67.9 Free. What am I doing wrong? Thanks.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Recovery and backup

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

9 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2017-06-30T04:34:37+00:00

    The suggestions made [especially by ****] are of little real use.   I have drives on my computer which have other Windows systems on them WHICH I DO NOT WANT TO IMAGE.  Windows in its' total stupidity tries to image ALL of them and in true MS fashion, have them grayed out so as to make it impossible to deselect them.   Consequently I am  NOT ABLE to make an image because there is definitely NOT enough room and the image would be useless anyway.  

    Great going Microsoft!

    Was this answer helpful?

    5 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2013-04-27T03:39:33+00:00

    That suggestion may or may not work, but I don't want to take the risk of losing my data with a Reset. The only data on the machine is a few simple directories, so if I can't get the System Image process to work without resetting my machine, I'd prefer to do the safe thing and just copy those directories to my backup drive (or use the regular backup utility rather than the system image). Don't get me wrong, I greatly appreciate your help, I just don't want to be doing risky experiments with my most valuable data. Maybe once I have all my important data directories copied and backed up I will try this idea. Thanks again.

    Was this answer helpful?

    3 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2013-04-24T16:37:10+00:00

    Hi Nathan,

    Thanks for the update.

    I suggest you try the following methods and check.

    Method 1:

    Check the disk usage in disk management

    According to the error message, it indicated that there is not enough disk space to do a system image backup on the computer. So, I would first suggest you to check the disk usage in disk management carefully and make sure all the partitions have enough space to do system backup image.

    To open the Disk Management, you can follow these steps:

    a) Go to the desktop Interface and right click on “Computer” and select “Manage”.

    b) In the “Computer Management” window, expand “Storage” and click on “Disk Management”.

    Here, you can see the usage of the whole hard drive. Please check it carefully and make sure all partitions have enough space.

    Notice: if you have some hidden partition on the computer, please also make sure the hidden partition has the enough rest space to do the system image on the computer.

    If there is enough space on the hard disk, then you may try the next method to check if there are any errors with the disk.

    Method 2:

    I would suggest you to turn off USN journal by following these step and check.

    1. Press Windows key + X and select Command prompt(Admin).
    2. Now type the following commands in command prompt and press Enter each time.fsutil usn queryjournal F:

    fsutil usn deletejournal /D F:

    1. Now try to create back up.

    Note:

    fsutil usn queryjournal F: The output will be USN journal settings which also includes its size (in hex bytes). If it is anything around 30mb, the backup will fail due to snapshot creation failure because of lack of space.

    fsutil usn deletejournal /D F: This will delete the journal.

    Hope the above information helps.

    Do get back to us and let me know the status of the issue or if you need further assistance regarding Windows.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2013-04-23T16:23:48+00:00

    I am attempting to create the system image by going to "Windows 7 File Recovery" and clicking "Create a system image" on the left of the screen. I have not made any recent changes on the computer. I did the error-checking in the article you mentioned, and no errors were found. Any ideas? Thanks.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2013-04-23T14:25:01+00:00

    Hi Nathan,

    Could you please answer the following questions.

    1. How are you trying to create a system image?
    2. Are you using Windows 7 file recovery to create a system image or any other software?
    3. Have you made any recent changes on the computer prior to the issue?

    I suggest you check the disk and make sure that the disk is error free.

    To check the disk for any errors, follow the article “To Repair a Drive” from this link:

    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/improve-performance-optimizing-hard-drive

    Important: While performing chkdsk on the hard drive if any bad sectors are found on the hard drive when chkdsk tries to repair that sector if any data available on that might be lost.

    Hope the above information helps.

    Do get back to us and let me know the status of the issue or if you need further assistance regarding Windows.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments