This will often be the case when you make an image of an NTFS partitions when SelfImage is running in Windows XP (and probably Windows 2000/2003 too). An NTFS filesystem must be an exact multiple of 4096 bytes in length. If your partition isn't an exact multiple, then the NTFS filesystem will end on the last 4096 byte boundary.

You actually can't even read those last few bytes, even when reading raw data from the partition the way SelfImage does. Low level reads stop at the end of the last 4k boundary.

Windows will only do this for recognized NTFS partitions. If Windows doesn't recognize the partition type, or if it's a FAT partition, then Windows will allow access to the entire partition.

If you use SelfImage to copy a smaller partition to a larger one, the end result will be that Windows won't see the extra space in the larger partition.

So, the technical answer is yes, SelfImage can physically copy a smaller partition to a larger one. The real answer is no, though, because SelfImage cannot resize a partition's filesystem while it copies.

Remember, SelfImage is primarily a disk image backup program. It's not a partition resizer, or a partition editor.