problem with cloning process

Acronis Version: True Image Home® version 11.0 (build 8,101)
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium
PC Specs. Processor: Pentium dual core 2.70 GHz. RAM: 5.75 GB System type: 64-bit
Hello,
I am having a problem when I attempt to clone my OS hard drive. C: is partitioned for 279GB and only 44GB is being used and needs to be cloned. Yet when I went through the cloning process it showed the whole C: of 279GB to be cloned rather than only the 44GB that actually needs to be cloned. My back up drive is partitioned for 56GB so of course the error message was, "Not enough space on destination drive" I ran these steps by my IT guy who is very knowledgeable and he was stumped.
What I did as a temporary back up measure was to do a "system back-up" I much prefer to clone my OS system than do a back up because if I understand the process correctly isn't the back up a "compressed image" (the back up of the 44GB came out approx. half in size) which means it needs to un-compress to restore the OS. Couldn't data be corrupted, lost, or fragmented in the compression/un-compression process? If not why use the cloning process? When would you use cloning over image back up???? I'm confused on this process.
My main concern is to figure out why it is showing the additional 235GB free space when I try to clone.
Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
Garland Boggs
blazeschi-energy@yahoo.com