cloning vs imaging?

You can also try for free till Sep. 10. 2013 True Image 2014 by Acronis-Beta and the top 10 beta users will receive Commercial licenses for Acronis True Image 2014. It is a "Beta" so IT IS NOT RECOMMENDED on your main partition with all important data on it, maybe a secondary partition just to make sure is something you'll like to keep as a full steady version-when it comes ready for download. This info is for your consideration, I own multiple licenses of True Image 2013 and I am pretty satisfied with the main results for cloning/ghosting but as far as backup I use EaseUS Todo Backup Workstation 5.8x ahead of Paragon Hard Disk Manager 12 Professional-which gave me some issues.
PC backup software | True Image by Acronis

hi i want to back up my c:drive onto my new samsung ssd drive which has a capacity of 128GB ,windows 7 only has roughly 60GBs used space (i'm guessing because i haven't actually bought windows 7 yet) will windows back up the entire 128GB or just the 60GB? is that a stupid question? also is it a wise idea to make a system repair disc before i do a system image backup? thank you

It sounds like you want to transfer your OS from the HD to the new SSD, right?
Is that what you mean by "back up" in your thread title?

This tutorial explains how to transfer the OS to a new SSD.
SSD - Install and Transfer the Operating System

Do you want to use the entire 120GB SSD for the "C" drive?
Or, do you want to partiton the SSD, so only 60GB+ is used for the "C" drive and the remaining space is used for another partition?

An image can be restored to a different size partition than it was created from as long as there is enough space to restore the image for the original "space used".
Imaging programs such as Acronis or Macrium can do this, I'm not sure about Windows built in Imaging as I don't use it.

Do you store your User data on the "C" drive?

You should post a screen print of your current disk Management to get the best help from the experts here.
Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image

It's always a good idea to have a Repair disc available, so create that in case you ever need it...

what i meant was that my hard drive has a total capacity of 128GB ( for OS), but only 60GB is used , so the whole hard drive would not be backed up just the used space. is that right? is it a good idea to make a partition for the OS? and how would i make one? and what do u mean by User data? thanks

i want to back up my c:drive onto my new samsung ssd drive

The way you stated that I thought your C drive was on a HD and you wanted to transfer the OS to a new SSD.

A System Backup Image uses about 60% of the used space of the partition being imaged.
A Backup Image of your "C" (60 GB used) drive will create a Backup Image file ~36 GB.
You can NOT create a backup image of the "C" drive ONTO the "C" drive.
You must create the backup image of "C" onto another Partition, HD, DVDs, etc.

User data is Documents, Music, Videos, Pictures, etc.

So, you have the SSD installed as the "C" drive now, and you want to create a backup image of it?
Is that what you want to do?
Do you have another external or internal HD where you can create a backup image of the "C" drive?

I use a "C" drive for the OS + Programs.
I store User data on a different HD/partition (spinner HD).
With a 120GB SSD I use the whole SSD as the "C" drive.

Whenever you ask questions about HDs, SSDs, partitons, storage space, etc, you should include a screen print of Disk Management.
It can help make things clearer and easier to understand.
Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image

If you decide to partition the SSD (something I wouldn't especially recommend in this case unless the new SSD is going to be your only drive), keep in mind that SSDs need at least 20-25% headroom to avoid excessive life reducing writes to the SSD. Since your OS, etc. uses 60GB of space, that would mean any SSD partition you put it on should be at least 75GB; it would be a good idea to have more for possible future expansion. My 128GB SSD has an actual capacity of 119GB after formatting so, after making an OS partition, you would have up to only 44GB left.