Windows 7: Both "System reserved" and "C" partition cloned to external HDD: boot?

Something else worth trying is
1) clear journal files from the system reserved which can clog it up until Windows gets around to clearing them
2) clear your restore points
This explains how
Windows 7 backup error 0x81000019 - a knol by Yohann Sulaiman

mjf, this knol seems to have solved this issue ... now I can at least create the System Image. Although I didn't follow it (the knol) all the way through: (1) only deleted the journal files (which brought System Reserved partition back to ~70 MB free space), (2) then did [i]not[\i] reboot, (3) and then immediately went to "Create a system image" tool.

The first time around, I also did check disk (chkdsk) and reboot which (somehow) brought the System Reserved back to (only) 30 MB free.

Thank you, the thread is finally (partially) solved! Deserved a +rep.

That's good firmos it sounds like you have your major problem solved.
You need to check the system reserved again after say a couple of hours. Also rename your good image to say "WindowsImageBackup_24-3-12" then do another Windows image and see what happens.
I think you should be able to disable Journal files clogging system reserved. When all is done it is best to remove the partition letter using Disk Management.

Computers love them / hate them.