Windows 7 System Image Backup Failed: Insufficient Disk Space [Solved]

The main takeaways

• ✅ The issue of "Windows 7 System Image Backup failed, not enough disk space" typically occurs due to insufficient storage space.
• ✅ Expanding the System Reserve Partition or Recovery Partition is an effective way to allocate sufficient space for restoring the system image.
• ✅ Using the Todo Backup Free tool for creating a system image is a better approach to protect your computer, as it ensures a smooth backup process without any hassles.

Creating a system image for Windows 7 backs up all system files and boot sectors on the Windows partition, allowing you to restore the operating system to its previous state in case of a computer failure. By creating a system image backup, you can avoid having to reinstall the operating system and other programs if your device encounters issues, saving you a lot of hassle.

Still, you might encounter various errors when creating a full system image backup. `The Windows 7 System Image Backup failed, not enough disk space` is a common issue that usually occurs due to storage reasons when attempting to create a system image. This problem is often accompanied by an error code notification, such as `0x80780119, 0x80780038, or 0x807800B4`. It might be caused by incorrect system reserved or recovery partitions. If you can't create a Windows 7 system image due to insufficient space, try the following solutions to resolve the problem.

If the system image backup didn't work because there wasn't enough space on the storage drive, there are a few ways to fix it and get that system image back. Here, we'll look at four solutions to sort out this problem.

Recommended reading: Windows 10 backup keeps failing | Not enough disk space but there is plenty

Fix 1️⃣ Extend the System Reserved Partition or Recovery Partition

Backup Failed Error (0x80780119)

The main reason for the Windows 7 system image backup failure is lack of disk space; there isn't enough room for the shadow copy. Generally, Volume Shadow Copy is a feature that creates backup copies of files or volumes on your computer. So, when you see the error message "Not enough volume shadow copy," it means that the size of the backup file doesn't meet the system's requirements for restoration.

Resize the System Reserved Partition with Disk Management Utility

To prevent this, you might need to extend the System Reserved or Recovery Partition to allocate enough space for the system image restoration. If your backup volume is less than 500 MB, there should be 50 MB of free space; if it's larger than 500 MB, it should have at least 320 MB. You can do this using the Disk Management utility or free third-party software. Try restoring the system image again to see if this resolves the error.

You may also be interested in: No System Restore Points in Windows 7

Fix 2️⃣ Clean up the Update Sequence Number (USN) journal file

Given that the issue with the System Reserved Partition is the root cause of your problem, it implies an anomaly in the changelog, which in turn triggers the error. This signifies that Windows has a feature to log file system changes. The NTFS system maintains a record called the Update Sequence Number (USN) journal, which logs modifications made to the System Reserved Partition volume.

If a disk operation, such as expanding or shrinking a partition, fails, a change log is created on the system reserved partition. If this error uses space needed for shadow copies, you might not be able to restore a system image.

Firstly, check if the System Reserved Partition has more than 50 MB of free space to accommodate shadow copy files smaller than 500 MB. If not, you'll encounter the error again, and you'll have to clean up accumulated USN journal files to resolve the insufficient space issue for Windows 10 image backup.

Step 1: Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog box.

Click the disk management tool to open it.

Step 2: Type diskmgmt.msc in the box, and then click OK to open the Disk Management tool.

Right-click on the "System Reserved" partition.

3. Right-click the “System Reserved” partition and select “Change Drive Letter and Paths.” Assign a drive letter of your choice, then click “OK.”

Step 4: Open the Command Prompt window on your computer.

Step 5: Enter each of the following commands in order, pressing Enter after each one.

• fsutil usn queryjournal H:
• fsutil usn deletejournal /N /D H:

Step 6. Once you've done that, remove the drive letter from the “System Reserved” partition.

This should free up 30-40 MB of free space in the reserved partition. Now, you should be able to create the system image without running into storage issues.

If the shadow copy has another volume, please fix 3️⃣

If System Image backup fails due to lack of space, another significant reason could be the presence of Shadow Copy storage on another volume. So, the issue is that the location where you want to save the system image is not empty. Try the following steps to troubleshoot the error and resolve it.

Backup failed due to shadow copies on other volumes.

Step 1: Run the System File Checker (SFC) scan.

Open Command Prompt as an administrator. Type sfc /scannow and press Enter. This will scan your files and attempt to fix any issues, or at least tell you what the problem is.

Step 2: System Protection and System Restore Points

If the SFC scan fails to fix the errors, try using a System Image Backup in Windows 7. You can do two things: enable System Protection and create a System Restore Point. A restore point is like an image backup that creates a shadow copy of your system, providing another layer of protection. In case anything happens, you can use a restore point to save your data.

Fix 4️⃣ Resize the Recovery Partition

If you can't restore a Windows 7 system image on Windows 8, it might be because of the recovery partition. To accommodate the shadow copy files required for creating a system image, we need to adjust the size of the recovery partition. Here are the size requirements:

So, check the size of the system image and make sure that there is enough space on the recovery partition to store it. If not, you'll have to resize the recovery partition to make room for it.

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Easy! Create a Windows system image with Todo Backup

If the "Windows 7 System Image Backup Failed, Not Enough Disk Space" error still persists, the best way to protect your system and data is to create a system image with professional backup software like Todo Backup Free. Additionally, this software offers free cloud support for storing your image backups and a secure zone to encrypt your data, adding an extra layer of security to your files.

The Todo Backup tool allows you to set up a scheduled backup, create advanced backup plans, clone your system or drives, make a bootable USB, and more. From backups and imaging to cloning, you get a full suite of features and protection to safeguard your data. Download the tool now to create a system image for Windows 11/10/8/7 right away.

Use the Todo Backup tool to create a Windows system image with these simple steps:

Step 1: Run the Todo Backup software, and then on the homepage, click “Create Backup” and then “Select Backup Content”.

Step 2: Click on "System" among the four options to start the backup.

Step 3: The system partition will be selected automatically, you just have to choose the location.

Step 4. You can choose to save the backup file on your local drive, cloud storage, or NAS. You can also connect an external hard drive to save your system backup.

Step 5: You can customize the settings as you need in the Options on the bottom left. Then, click on Backup Now, and the backup process will start.

* After the backup is complete, you can right-click on the backup task on the left to check its status, recover, open, or delete the backup.

【Reason】Why does the Windows system image fail due to insufficient disk space?

When your computer fails to operate normally or gets affected in some way, you would use the Windows System Image Backup to perform a complete system recovery. Now, if you are trying to create a system image but encounter the error "Windows 7 System Image Backup Failed - Not Enough Disk Space," the possible reasons could be:

• Error 0x80780119: There is not enough disk space on the location used to store image backups to create a shadow copy.
• Error 0x80780038: The shadow copy storage for the location used to store image backups is on a different volume.
• Error 0x807800B4: The volume to be backed up is larger than 2088958 MB and cannot be protected.

wrapping up

The “Windows 7 System Image Backup Failed, Not Enough Disk Space” error usually occurs because there isn't enough disk space to create a shadow copy. Learn how to fix this issue and store your system image backup with the methods above.

If the issue persists, your best bet to safeguard your data is by creating a system image backup with Todo Backup. That way, you can keep it safe from harm, either in the cloud or in a secure location.

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Here are some common questions about "Windows 7 System Image Backup Failed, Insufficient Disk Space." If you have similar concerns, hopefully, this will assist you.

< b > 1. What is the 0x80780119 error and what does it mean when it says there is not enough space? < / b >

Error 0x80780119 indicates that there isn't enough disk space available to create the system image. This means that there isn't enough space on the system reserved partition to create the image.

Why does my computer show insufficient disk space when there is actually enough space available?

This could be due to hard drive damage or hidden files taking up the space. You can try using a hard drive repair tool or the CHKDSK utility to check for errors and rectify them.

Why does my Windows Image Backup keep failing?

A Windows Image Backup failure can occur due to several reasons, but the most common one is damage or corruption to the files. This can be a result of software or hardware issues, or it might be caused by external threats such as malware.