Windows Backup refuses to create a new System Image because it claims that the target drive (the drive on which the image will be placed) does not have the space available. This is an incorrect assessment by Windows, as the System Image is ~32GB, and the target drive has approximately 360GB available. The entire error message is as follows:

"Windows Backup skipped backing up system image because one of the critical volumes is not having enough free space. Free up some space by deleting unnecessary files and try again." Error code: 0x81000033

As there are some serious grammatical errors within this error message (for example, "is not having enough" should read "does not have enough", indicating someone who does not speak English natively wrote the message), I suspect there may be an intrusion to blame (a polite way of saying "foul play"), but Microsoft Security Essentials nor Malwarebytes detects any viruses or the like. Or did Microsoft really outsource 7's development?

Windows typically writes files to the C: drive then copies them over to the desired drive. I don't know if it does this for backups too. But it's probably the case. Does the C: have enough space too?

Edit: in other words your best bet may be a non-Microsoft backup utility.

Does the backup program require a FAT32 or NTFS formatted drive?

Uh...aren't system restore images and system backups known for harboring nasties that had erstwhile habitation on your hard drive?

You might want to try Avast on that sucker, it has a scan-on-boot function that bypasses all viruses and scans everything, just takes hella long.

Well, no. C: has about three gigs left. That's why I chose my secondary drive. It's never cause a problem before. Anyway, what third party program would you recommend. Is there any program that can create backup that can be used by Windows Backup to restore a system image from? Like, if I created an image with "Bob's Backup", I'd want that image to be compatible with the restore function in the Windows install disc.

@Stuff
Both drives are NTFS.

@Runehamster
It wouldn't be an issue anyway, since just to make sure, I manually deleted all previous backups and system images. So basically, I'm flying without a net here, to cross a few colloquialisms.

Oh gotcha, my apologies for the assumption. It blew my mind when I first found that out (after reinstalling the same damn virus four times by accident) so it's the first thing I mention to people.

Hmm...just a thought, but if your computer's installed to C: drive, wouldn't it need to create the system restore image on C, then move it to the new directory? There might not be enough room for the temporary file.

One would think so, but like I just said, there's only ever been ~4GB free space on my C: drive, and this error has never come up before. I'd just assumed it drew up a larger page file directly from the secondary drive or something. I'm not a memory expert, so I dunno. That's why I'm asking.

Well, I've absolutely reached the limits of my non-existent tech support capabilities. There's a REASON I swapped from IT major to Bio major ;P

I do hope you get it fixed, though, and thanks for your patience with my mental ramblings :D

The answer to my issue can be found here, apparently. I'm too tired to read it right now, so I'll post later to tell you guys if it helped me or not. After having glance over it, I found a discrepancy. It says that the "System Reserved" partition on the drive on which Windows 7 is installed is hidden. This partition has always been visible to me. Maybe that's part of the problem.

Get Macrium Reflect (freeware version) and you will solve all your backup-related problems...

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

I would say it is trying to backup to that partition, usually ( or used to be ) FAT32 for most systems. 32 GB sounds like a system partition. Defaulting the backup to the first FAT32 partition it finds sounds logical as well.. . =)

32GB isn't the system partition, that's the whole drive.