Windows 7: Is my backup iso all there?

(Pardon me if this has been answered elsewhere, I searched the forum for but didn't find an answer)
Did a fresh install of Windows 7 64-bit and all my apps, deleted Windows.old, defrag'ed and activated. Then created a SYSTEM IMAGE using Win 7 BACKUP and RESTORE, so far so good.
Win 7 and my apps take up 43.9 GB on the hard drive but the SYSTEM IMAGE it created on my external drive is only 23.7 GB. Tried it on my laptop with similar results ISO was about half the HDD. Does that sound right? Just seems the ISO should have matched the HDD GB-wise unless it compresses or something.

Windows 7 and your apps at 44GBs sounds very high. Check that with WinDirStat ( WinDirStat - Windows Directory Statistics ). Your number probably includes all the page files, shadowstorage, etc.

(like a calf looking at a new gate - duh what's this?)

OK pagefile/hibernation are 14GB's, would those not be included in a backup ISO?

WinDirStat reads my C: as 37.5 GB less 14 GB is close to the 23.7 ISO.
(Looking at my HHD properties it lists used space as 43.9 GB.)

I backed up my laptop after a fresh install and it took less than one DVD - looked like about 2/3.

In Windows, the "Computer" reading is 11G. Hard to fit that on less than one 4G DVD

I suspect that the compression, coupled with not including the pagefile, hibernation file, etc. makes it that small.

My concern was the same as yours, so I did a recovery. Worked.

Ya, right. Don't forget the compression.

Curiosity go the better of me and I did a restore using the restore disk and ISO image on my USB HDD. It worked fine, only took about 12-15 minutes. I have 2 partitions on my 500 GB HDD and reading the on screen instructions during the restore it looked like it might delete the partition and reformat the whole drive but it didn't, partition 2 is alive and well.

Yup - when they say "image" they MEAN image - I had to slick the HD and do a clean install to get rid of the "recovery" partition that Toshiba had put in.

Glad it worked for you. Makes changing the system feel a bit more comfortable, right?

Yes, it does or at least makes it faster!

If you are carrying 8gb ram - your pagefile and hibernation file will be massive. They are excluded from the image.

Take that out and there is very little compression with Windows backup, sadly. Doesn't matter much if you are backing up a small amount.

Restore will be quicker from a flash drive - otherwise it is fairly slow.

Quicker than reinstalling the o/s , etc. Always worth making Images.

Other apps. are better than the Windows one - even some of the free ones.

Use whichever you are comfortable with.

After not checking, I learned the hard way that checking the image is "REQUIRED".

I created a system image on my external drive.
2 days later my hard drive died.
I booted with the recovery DVD and attempted to restore the image
NO GO! Everything was lost because the image was corrupted!
So, from now on I make and image and then reinstall it on my system to make sure that it works.