Unsure about how to recover a system partition (not whole drive) with Win7

Hello,
I'm new to Win7 and just discovered that this OS creates not only the standard os partition, but as well a "hidden" partition for its own use.
Although this hidden partition is supposed to be there just to store win7's proprietary recover system (thaI I don't care about since I'm a user of TrueImage2010), I also read that it can sometimes create some sort of problems in case it's missing or gets corrupted (apparently in this case, win7 will not boot, even if the os partition itself is ok)

So, although i've successfully used TrueImage in the past with XP and Vista, now Win7 makes me a bit nervous, and unsure about what to do exactly, in order to be sure I'll recover the system with the image if (or when...) things go funny...

- does trueimage 2010 create the system image including this hidden partition ? (in other words, does T.I take care of everything win7 related ?
- or do I have to request it specifically ?
- or.... ?

I also read somewhere (but this is to be confirmed), that with a win7 system, the only one solution for TrueImage backup to be successful, is to clone the whole drive, not only the system partition.
This would be unpractical for me, because I (like many other people, likely) have always used a 2-partition OS drive : one for the system, one for my personal data (downloads etc, which rapidly grow to a lot of Gb....).
This way the os partition remains relatively light and slim, and the image as well, making image creation and recovery faster.

i'll be grateful for any advices or hints about what to be aware of, about the combination win7/trueimage !
Thanks in advance.