How to create a system image in Windows 7?

I happened to stumble upon the "create system image" feature within Windows 7 today, and now I find myself wondering: is this actually reliable? I mean, can I really trust it to be on par with creating a full hard drive image using dedicated software like Paragon Software or Acronis True Image?
My personal philosophy has always been a bit of a mantra: why bother installing extra bloatware when the functionality already exists right there in Windows? It just seems more efficient to stick to the built-in tools if they get the job done properly.
Could anyone please offer some seasoned advice or a bit of guidance on this matter?

There’s really nothing to worry about when it comes to making a backup using the built-in tools in Windows... You shouldn't run into any issues at all 👍

Can someone walk me through this? I opened up the backup and restore tool and I've hit a bit of a wall because two things look almost identical to me.
When I click on create a system image, a window pops up asking "where do you want to save backup".
But then, when I go into the setup for a backup image, I get a window asking "where do you want to save your backup".
I'm just trying to figure out what the actual difference is between those two ways of making a backup
.

create a system image — think of this as a complete snapshot of your entire PC, including all your software and files. There isn’t much decision-making involved; you just run the process and you're done.

setup backup image — this is your standard backup, primarily designed for your personal data like photos or Word and Excel documents. You’ll likely have three different options to choose from (incremental, mirror, or full), after which you select which specific files to back up and finally decide where to save everything...

Oh, boy... what a total disaster of a program. I was really holding out hope that I wouldn't have to go hunting for some third-party software just to get my backups running properly.
I kicked off that "create a system image" process, waited for a while, and then—lo and behold—this error pops up right in my face:
"The backup failed.
Windows Backup failed to create the shared protection point on the source volumes. (Ox8078006B)
Additional Information:
The shadow copy provider had an error. Check the system and Application event logs for more
information. (0x80042306)

Does anyone have any idea what on earth went wrong here?

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...b-3f1d6920206a